


How I Met Your Father

by castielfalls



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Inspired by How I Met Your Mother, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-05 23:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20281306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielfalls/pseuds/castielfalls
Summary: Thor Odinson recounts to his kids, through a series of flashbacks, the journey he and his friends took leading up to him meeting their other father, Peter Quill.





	1. Wedding Night

**Author's Note:**

> based on my twitter au on @70squill, you can find the au here: https://twitter.com/70squill/status/1156987349378580480?s=20
> 
> i made a playlist for the au so i guess i'll drop it here too: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5AvijvfgYkEWa4PhmjS7ao?si=VlbmO6aJQI-yFfJ-t-8tgA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Not a lot of people realise it until they think about it, but there's always that little detail about someone that just screams at you that this is why you love them. For me, I fell in love with your father when I saw him dance terribly as I played guitar."

> "Kids, I think it's time I tell you the story of how I met your other father," Thor begins, sitting down in front of his children, Meredith and Jason.
> 
> "Is this really necessary?" Meredith asks.
> 
> Jason adds, groaning, "Are we getting punished?"
> 
> "No. I just think it's a great story," Thor says. "So, it started with the night of the wedding reception of your uncles Sam and Bucky. At the time, I was single, and you know how weddings pretty much suck if you're there without a date. Your Uncle Tony tried to help me, but it didn't really work out."

“Thor! Hot stuff, come here,” Tony calls, beckoning Thor over. Thor grins, taking a drink from the refreshments table and moving over to him. “I don’t think you and Bruce ever spoke before.”

“No, we haven’t,” Thor says. “I’m Thor Odinson.”

“Bruce Banner,” Bruce introduces. Though, when Tony finally leaves them be, Bruce’s attention turns away and Thor is somehow left alone.

“So much for having never spoken before,” a voice says from behind him. Thor turns around and sees Carol, a smile on her face.

“Tony needs to try harder if he wants to hook me up with someone,” Thor jokes.

Carol laughs and nods towards a guy sitting alone, “What about him? Looks pretty.” He does, actually, and Thor decides: Why not? He moves over to the man he’s never seen before.

"Bored?" the man asks as Thor sits down at the table with him.

"Not bored, just looking for something to do," Thor replies. "Why, are _you_ bored?"

"Well, you just got me interested. Hi," he says, giving him a smile. "My name's Milano."

> "His name was not Milano_."_

Thor stares at him for a moment before he smiles back, asking, "That's a fake name, is it?"

"You caught me," Milano says, throwing a hand up in disappoint. Though, he doesn't look disappointed in terms of his expression. He looks amused.

"Well, in that case, I'm Don," Thor replies.

"Odinson! Hey!" Bucky shouts from across the reception hall. Though, because of the distance and noise, it just sounds like 'Odin'.

Milano raises his eyes to the sound and smirks, "So, Odin, huh?"

_Milano thinks my name is Odin... Sure, I'll play along_. Thor repeats his words from earlier, "You caught me."

"Then it's only fair I give you my name. Richard Rider," Milano says. "You?"

> "His name is _not_ Richard Rider. But, at the time, I didn't know. And then, I did something stupid."

"Blake Odin is the full name," Thor answers.

> "You gave Dad a _fake_ name?" Meredith asks, bewildered.
> 
> "I said I did something stupid, what were you expecting?" Thor asks in defence. "Anyway..."

Richard laughs and shakes his head at the ridiculousness of their situation, "We've been talking for five minutes and already have four names between us."

"It's a good icebreaker, you have to admit," Thor jokes. "Are you enjoying the wedding?"

"I think it got more fun when you came here to talk," Richard says. "I've been sitting around, and I don't really know anyone here."

"Did you try this thing called talking to and meeting new people?" Thor replies teasingly. Richard nudges his shoulder with a grin.

"I tried talking to the doctor, but he's clearly hopelessly in love with Stark, so I gave up. I talked to the couple too. They're cute but I booked it the moment they started making bedroom eyes."

Thor laughs, "They come on a little strong at times, but you get used to it."

"Oh, I saw that model. I didn't talk to her, but I've heard of her. Does she really not have a last name?" Richard asks. 

> "He would be talking about your Aunt Valkyrie. She was a model back in the day, before she started her acting career. She didn't have a last name then, so it was only Valkyrie."

"Nope," Thor answers. Richard looks at her in awe.

"That's so cool. It's like 'Queen'. Or Adele. Cher. Charo..."

"Are you going to keep going?" Thor asks, eyebrow raised in amusement.

Richard smiles, "I could, but I think that'd be boring and we've got a good thing going on right now."

"Do we?" Thor grins back.

"Come on, we do," Richard says. He hesitates. "Do we?"

"We do," Thor finally says. "But, just putting it out there, I don't believe in wedding romances."

“That’s good. Neither do I. Those things only work out in movies,” Richard says. “But I do like you so far.”

“I like you too,” Thor says, smiling. “So far.”

Richard gives him a grin before he asks, "Do you have a boyfriend?”

Thor hasn’t had a serious boyfriend for at least a couple years now. He just couldn’t really settle on someone. “No. You?”

“Not right now, no,” Richard says.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Richard shrugs. He clearly doesn’t want to talk about it.

Thor nods slowly, saying, “Well, if it makes you feel better, he’s missing out. So far.”

“Only so far, huh?” Richard laughs. “Why don’t we get to know each other, just to get rid of the ‘so far’.” Thor sees Valkyrie giving him a thumbs up from behind Richard.

“Why not?” Thor says.

“Great,” Richard says, smiling warmly. Thor swears he’s in love with that smile and he’d barely started speaking with him. 

> "Now, we had been talking for at least an hour by then. I realised that Richard was actually really fun to be around. He fired off jokes whenever a chance presented itself and he was always funny. Richard was... He had something special about him, you know? So, I asked him --"

"Do you want to move somewhere quieter?"

"I would like that," Richard smiles, standing to follow Thor away into an empty event room near the wedding reception hall. There was a guitar in the room, likely to have been left there by the room's previous user. Richard sighs, "I wish I knew how to play guitar. Do you play?"

Thor laughs, going to pick up the guitar, "I know one song." He strums the notes he'd painstakingly learnt -- _Mr Blue Sky_ by _Electric Light Orchestra_. He'd learnt how to play it a while ago when he heard the song playing at a party he'd been at for an hour before leaving. 

> "Kids, I didn't know this at the time, but your other father was at that party. It's funny how life comes together like that."

"I love this song!" Richard grins, beginning to dance along to it. While he isn't the best dancer, it's still endearing to watch. Thor finds himself smiling along as he watches Richard dance happily, singing just a little bit off-key to Mr Blue Sky. 

> "Not a lot of people realise it until they think about it, but there's always that little detail about someone that just screams at you that this is why you love them. It could be something as small as how they have a freckle right under their eye. It could be the way they wear their shirts inside out when they're tired. For me, I fell in love with your father when I saw him dance terribly as I played guitar. Your Uncle Loki would mock me if he was there. But you know what? It doesn't matter what they say. They're laughing because they just haven't found that little detail yet when I already found your father dancing."

Richard does a grand sweeping arm motion as Thor brings the song to a close. He laughs as he sits down next to Thor, saying, "I don't know how to dance."

"Really? I couldn't tell," Thor replies.

"No way. You're lying," Richard says, but his cheeks were a little red.

"No, I'm serious. I couldn't tell," Thor says, putting the guitar down. There's just a moment of silence between them after that. Richard has the prettiest hazel eyes. It's like the galaxy had made itself a home in his eyes. 

> "I wasn't lying. It looked like he could dance, but that was because he looked so beautiful doing it that I didn't realise how terrible he is at dancing."

Thor looks down at Richard's belt buckle and smiles, "You've got a Walkman. Not many people have one nowadays."

Richard replies, "Yeah, my mom gave it to me before... things changed. I treasure it more than my life." Thor nods sympathetically, he knows what Peter means by 'things changed'. 

"I'm sorry. Things changed with my parents too. I live with my brother."

"I live with my friends," Richard says. "Things just kept changing, you know?"

"I know," Thor nods. "But sometimes, the only thing we can do is change with it, right?"

Richard agrees, "Or things will keep changing and we'll be left behind. You know, it's been three years since I went on a serious date because of how much things kept changing."

"Four years, for me," Thor says. Richard's mouth falls open.

"Four years? When you look like that?" Richard asks, genuinely surprised. Thor looks like a walking god to him. Thor laughs at Richard's surprise. 

> "Your other father told me that this was the moment that he thought he'd fallen in love with me."

"I guess I wasn't looking for anything," Thor says, smiling.

"Well, are you looking for anything now?" Richard asks.

"We said nothing more than tonight, that was our deal," Thor laughs again.

Peter fake-whines, "Yeah, but you're so pretty..." He leans into Thor's side and he pulls him closer, smiling warmly.

"I think you're prettier," Thor says sincerely. "I feel like I see the stars in your eyes."

"How poetic of you," Richard jokes, but his cheeks were rosy.

Thor leans in slightly, "It's true. I really like you."

"Can I kiss you?" Richard asks suddenly, following Thor's lead in leaning closer.

It takes Thor a moment to process the question before he grins, "You didn't have to ask."

> "I'm going to skip over this, because I don't see a reason in explaining how kissing your father feels like to you. But just know that it was perfect."

Thor and Richard walk back into the reception hall together. They'd kissed and it'd been nice, but they decided that it was pretty late, and they should get back to the wedding reception. Except, when they get back to the reception area, everyone had already gone home, and they were the only two left other than the handful of men cleaning up the area. The television on the wall was still on, playing a show.

"Love that guy. So talented," one of the men say, watching as he sweeps the floor.

"Who's that?" Thor asks.

> "Bear with me, here."

"Richard Rider," the guy answers. "You should watch his stuff. Amazing."

"Richard Rider?" Thor looks back at his Richard, who laughs nervously.

Richard says sheepishly, "Yeah, Richard Rider."

"You're a fan of his?"

"The opposite," Richard answers.

"Why?" Thor asks, curious. "Is it because you share a name?" It'd been meant as a joke, but because Thor was now unsure if Richard was his real name, it was only partially a joke.

"Sure," Richard says. "Hey, the guys already left." As Richard said, the cleaning crew were gone. leaving only two of them.

"I kind of wish we got to dance before the reception ended," Thor says in disappointment, looking at the empty floor.

"We _did_ dance," Richard points out.

"_You_ danced. I just watched," Thor corrects, chuckling.

"Maybe I can do something about that," Richard says, unhooking his Walkman from his belt. He finds a pair of speakers, conveniently left by someone, and connects his Walkman to it the way he'd seen his friend Rocket do once. When he was sure it was connected, he hits play, and Thor hears the beginning tunes of _Fooled Around and Fell in Love_ by Elvin Bishop. Richard turns back around and holds out a hand, smiling, "Can I have this dance?"

Thor grins back, taking Richard's hand in his as they dance to the slow song together.

> "Your other father told me that _this_ was the moment that he _knew_ he'd fallen in love with me."

“It sucks.”

“What sucks?” Richard asks as the song slowly comes to a close. Though the song ends, the two remain close, as if they were still slow dancing.

“I had a really nice night and I enjoyed myself so much. I met this amazing guy. I played _Mr. Blue Sky_ as I watched him dance. I slow-danced with him to Elvin Bishop... I’m going to go home, go to bed with these amazing memories but I’m going to have one really bad one,” Thor says.

“What bad memory?” Richard asks.

“The memory of you walking away from me,” Thor answers. “We have to leave soon, and my last memory of you is going to be you walking out that door.”

Richard thinks it over before he smiles, “I can fix that. Close your eyes.” Thor gives him a questioning look, but he smiles and closes his eyes anyway. Richard pauses for a moment before deciding fuck it, and he presses a quick, final kiss to Thor's lips. When he pulls away, his smile slowly falls off his face into a longing frown as, with quiet steps, he walks out of the reception hall.

By the time Thor opens his eyes again, Richard was gone, and he was only left with empty chairs and empty tables.

> "How did you find him again?" Jason asks.
> 
> "I'll tell you. It took a long time to find him again, but I did. It starts with the day after the wedding..."


	2. Richard Rider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I went to bed thinking that I would be fine if I never saw him again, but I woke up thinking that I had to find him."

"Good morning, lovebirds!" Carol greets Sam and Bucky.

"It's your first day as a married couple!" Valkyrie says excitedly, walking into their apartment alongside Carol and Natasha.

"How does it feel?" Natasha asks.

Bucky grumbles, "This morning, Sam pulled the blanket to his side so hard that I fell off the bed. I want a refund on my husband."

"Ain't no store to return me to," Sam says, laughing.

"What, Heaven doesn't do refunds?" Bucky questions.

Sam blinks, "Did you just call me an angel while trying to refund me?"

"Maybe I did."

"Oh my God," Sam gasps dramatically. "_Baby_!"

> "Uncle Sam and Uncle Bucky were known for being ridiculously stupid with their relationship. They still are, but point being --"

"You two are so disgusting," Tony groans, walking away from them to get some water. Bucky gestures silently to him for a glass.

"How was the wedding night?" Stephen asks.

Bucky smiles, accepting a glass of water from Tony, "Amazing, of course. What about you guys?"

"I think I fell in love," Thor sighs, sitting down next to Valkyrie.

"You _what_?" Carol repeats, leaning forward to look at him.

"Oh, I introduced you to my friend, Bruce, at the wedding, right? How was he?"

"Well, we talked. He was nice, but then he left me halfway to talk to my brother instead," Thor mutters.

> "Tony grumbled under his breath then, but I'm pretty sure he was bitter his matchmaking didn't work out."

"Who did you fall in love with?" Matt asks.

> "I didn't know this until just a couple years ago when he told me, but Uncle Matt was apparently in love with me at the time."

"Some guy at the wedding, I've never seen him before. But we had a really special night and I woke up thinking: I think I'm in love," Thor says wistfully.

"That's disgusting," Bucky says.

"We literally got married yesterday," Sam says.

Bucky clarifies, "Thor falling in love with anyone that isn't me is disgusting."

"Well, what's his name?" Tony asks.

"I don't know," Thor says. "At least, I don't know if it's his real name."

"What about his number, then?" Stephen asks.

"Nope," Thor says.

"No? Thor!" Valkyrie almost shouts, bewildered.

Thor defends, "We had a deal! Neither of us believed in a wedding romance so we said no names, no numbers, just one magical night together and never see each other again."

"You are so fucking _stupid_, Thor," Bucky groans, running a hand down his face.

"Did Loki kill you for it?" Sam asks.

"Three times and that's just this morning," Thor answers, dejected.

"Do you want to see him again?" Matt inquires, head cocked in his direction slightly as he adjusts his red glasses.

Thor replies, remembering the way Richard looked under the dim lights as he danced to _Mr Blue Sky_, "I went to bed thinking that I would be fine if I never saw him again, but I woke up thinking that I had to find him."

"Well, if you don't have his name, then you can say goodbye to that," Natasha remarks.

"Maybe..." Thor trails off.

"No way, we're gonna help you find this guy," Tony says, clapping to get everyone's attention. "What name did he give you?"

> "Kids, to this day, I'm still grateful to your uncle Tony for that. While I would still have tried to find your father even if he didn't say that, it meant a lot to me that he wanted to help find him."

"Richard Rider," Thor answers.

Sam leaves the room and returns after two minutes with two sheets of paper stapled together. He and Bucky take a quick flip-through before Sam reports, "No Richard or Riders on the guest list. Maybe if you told us what he looked like?"

"Hazel eyes, blonde hair," Thor describes.

Bucky and Sam look at each other before Bucky says, "You just described half of our guest list, Thor. You have to narrow it down."

"Do you have a photo?" Valkyrie asks. At Thor's sheepish expression, almost the whole room groans.

> "I didn't know this until after I found your father again, but he and his friends were also looking. He told me how their conversation the morning after about it went. It wasn't that different from the one I just told you I had. I'm still going to tell you, because there's someone important in this."

Rocket sighs loudly, "You don't know his name? Do you at least have his phone number?"

"Ah, yeah... Funny story," Peter says, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Quentin mutters, "I don't know a bigger idiot. I truly don't."

"Does he have your name?" Mantis asks.

"Ah, yeah... Funny story," Peter repeats.

Quentin's eyes widen, "What name did you give him?"

"Richard Rider," Peter says.

"The name of your ex-boyfriend?" Rocket clarifies, laughing in disbelief.

> "Yes, kids. The actor we saw on the television before we slow-danced was the same Richard Rider your father dated."

"You gave an _ex's_ name?" Jessica asks, rolling her eyes.

"Well, at least I didn't say my name was Gamora," Peter tries.

"My name would have been a better answer," Gamora mutters.

> "Gamora would have been a better answer."

Rocket asks, trying to make a point, "When was the last time you even spoke to Richard? Three years ago?

After a moment of hesitation, Peter says once again, "Ah, yeah... Funny story."

"The answer is still three years ago, right?" Jessica asks. At Peter's silence, she mutters, "Peter Jason Quill, you did _not_."

"It happened like two months ago! I'm sorry!" Peter exclaims.

"I can't believe this... let me get this straight. You hooked up with your ex-boyfriend from three years ago, _two_ months ago, and then you meet a guy at the wedding you were at, in which you told him your name was said ex-boyfriend's name," Nebula summarises.

Peter nods, "Pretty much." 

> "Kids, don't say your ex's name. Ever."


	3. Cosmic Sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe we don't need the universe to tell us what we want, because deep down, we already know that."

> "Kids, your father made a mistake two months before meeting me at Sam and Bucky's wedding. He spent a regretful night with his ex-boyfriend, Richard Rider. He'd gotten a bunch of texts two days after the wedding from Richard, in hopes that they could reconcile. Your father wasn't letting up."

**Richard:** Hey Peter

**Richard:** Are you free tonight?

**Peter:** Richard, listen

**Peter:** That night was once off

**Peter:** I was lonely, and you were there

**Richard:** Come on, it was a good once off, right?

**Peter:** Stop texting me

**Richard:** Anything you want

**Richard:** I'll be here

**Peter:** Whatever

> "Later that day, my friends were making fun of me again for not getting your father's name and number."

"You know, I always thought I would be the one with the wedding hangover. I never expected Thor to be the one with the wedding hangover," Bucky says the moment they enter Thor and Loki's apartment. Loki was out for an errand, so Thor invited a few friends over to hang out.

"He wasn't even part of the wedding," Sam says, giving Thor a look of faux disappointment.

"Stop bullying me," Thor mutters. "I should have gotten married right there and then.” 

> "I should have."

"I can't believe Thor is this in love with a man he doesn't even have the actual name of," Natasha remarks. 

> "I was."

"Richard Rider," Matt laughs. "Dick Rider. Rider of Dicks." 

> "Before Matt became one of New York's finest lawyers, he was making jokes like that. Believe it."

"I can't believe _you_," Valkyrie laughs. "Nobody's funnier than you, Matt."

"I believe Carol is funny as well," Matt says knowingly.

"Me? Funny? Matt, stop kidding around," Carol says, laughing nervously.

"I find you funny too," Valkyrie smiles. 

> "You knew this, but Aunt Carol was in love with Aunt Valkyrie. We all knew it except for Valkyrie herself. Anyway, while they were making fun of Richard's name, he was running his own search for me."

"Rocket. Rocky," Peter calls, poking Rocket's arm.

He finally reacts, putting down his screwdriver, "Never call me Rocky again. What do you want?"

"Please help me," Peter begins. "You're my best friend."

"My worst nightmare," Rocket mutters.

"I can't stop thinking about Blake." 

> "If you've forgotten, Blake Odin was the name your father knew me by at the time."

"He's so perfect. Dude, I think he's the one," Peter says.

"Yeah, okay. _Now_ I know you're crazy," Rocket says, finally turning away from his project to face Peter. "You spent one night with him. _One_. How good was he in bed that you want to marry the guy after one night?"

"That's the thing! We didn't even hook up. All we did was talk, laugh, kiss twice and say goodbye," Peter says.

"Yeah, and Santa is real," Rocket says sarcastically.

Peter jokes, "He isn't?"

"_Peter Quill_."

"I'm _kidding_," Peter scoffs. "But I'm serious when I said I think he's the one. I need to find him."

> "Rocket made me promise never to tell anyone he said this, but he told me a few years later that the only reason why he wanted to help Peter was because he actually believed him when he said he thought I was the one. Which is pretty sweet, but Rocket thinks it's stupid."

"Ugh, I promise I'll help you," Rocket relents. Before Peter can say anything, Rocket adds, "On one condition."

"Anything at all."

"You never contact Richard Rider ever again," Rocket says.

Peter nods, "Way ahead of you. I already told him to back off."

Rocket sighs, "Somehow, I don't believe that's the end of it, but as long as you stay away from him, I'll help you. You two ended badly and I don't want you back at that dark place again."

"Of course not. I just want to find Blake," Peter says.

"We will, because now, I will be helping you," Rocket affirms.

> "Of course, Uncle Rocket would never let people think he was a softie, so the moment your father's friends were gathered again, the first thing he said was --"

"Someone, save me," Rocket grumbles. "Peter won't shut up about his love life."

"Peter, if I find this Odin guy first, can I have him?" Quentin asks, flashing a teasing smile.

"First of all, his name is _Blake_. Odin's his last name," Peter corrects. "Second, no you can't. I already called dibs. Third, I looked him up in a phone book and couldn't find anyone named Blake Odin, so good luck with that."

Gamora frowns, tilting her head in confusion, "Who uses a phone book these days?"

"You can't call dibs on someone," Quentin argues.

"Sure, I can. I kissed him first. Would you be able to kiss him without thinking about how I already kissed him?" Peter asks, a smug smile on his face.

Quentin hesitates, thinking it over, before he groans, "Damn it."

"So, Blake Odin is a fake name," Gamora notes.

Peter shrugs, "I mean, I can't blame him. I did tell him my name was Richard Rider."

"Which is still such a stupid thing to do, by the way. Why would you give him Rider's name, of all exes' names to give?" Jessica questions.

"I don't know, I panicked! I just wish there was a way I could find him," Peter laments, sitting down next to Mantis, who pats his hand comfortingly. "You know, that was the best night of my life."

> "Later on, I was out with my brother, who took it upon himself to tell our friends to convince me not to do something stupid. In my defence, I was a little sad that day."

"Hello, gays," Loki greets them on a group video call. Loki, Stephen, Bucky (and Sam), Tony (and Matt) and Natasha (with Carol and Valkyrie at work).

"Thor has to be up to something if you're calling us," Stephen says.

"You're right," Loki affirms. "Someone, help me convince Thor not to buy an engagement ring for someone Matt named Rider of Dick." 

> "_What_?" Meredith and Jason exclaim.
> 
> "You haven't found him yet and you were going to buy him a _ring_?" Jason asks, shocked.
> 
> "Listen. It was a long time ago. I was a little bit more of a risk taker back then. It's not what you think, just let me finish."

"Thor, don't buy a ring for Richard Rider!" Bucky says. "Buy one for me. I'll divorce Sam for you."

Sam says from behind Bucky, "Buy two and propose to both of us."

"No, marry me instead," Tony chimes in. "I can buy you anything."

"This is getting a bit much," Stephen says.

> "I knew this. We all knew this a long time before this call happened. Stephen was in love with Tony. Has been for the past two years. Anyway."

"Marry me instead. I make a better husband than the three of you combined," Matt jokes from behind Tony.

Tony sighs, "Listen, I can't compete with Matthew Murdock."

Thor finally realises that Loki is on the call when he points the camera to him, and he reaches out for the phone. Loki ducks out of his reach and Thor curses under his breath, trying to grab Loki's phone as he says, "Loki, stop it. I'm not looking for an engagement ring!"

"Oh, really? Then why are we here?" Loki asks, turning the phone's camera around to show the others the ring shop they were in.

"Thor! What are you doing?" Valkyrie explodes.

"Nothing! Loki's being crazy," Thor replies. "Loki, _turn that off_."

Natasha mutters, "Go home right now, Odinson. Leave. That. Store."

"This is too chaotic, even for you," Carol complains. "Thor, please don't buy a ring."

"Loki is just lying as always," Thor says into the camera before his thumb manages to hit 'end call'. Loki curses when he realises Thor had successfully ended the call on his end.

"You suck," Loki says, putting his phone away. "Anyway, you heard them. Can we go?"

Thor clicks his tongue in annoyance, glancing through the rings, "Just give me a moment."

"A moment to what? Pick out a ring for a man you spent a night with?" Loki questions. "I usually humour you with your antics, but this seems a bit far-fetched."

"Can you just _stop_ for a minute?" Thor snaps. Loki falls into silence, surprised by Thor's outburst. Thor turns back to the display cases, gaze falling onto a ring that shone like a star. The other rings shone too, but this one was a little bit different.

Loki finally speaks up, "What's wrong?"

> "My brother and I didn't always get along, but if there's something we always did right, it was knowing when something was wrong."

"We're not exactly getting any younger," Thor starts, still staring at that particular ring he'd noticed earlier. "Every day that passes, is one where I haven't found Richard yet." 

> "That ring ended up being the one I bought for your father years later. I just didn't know it."

"It's only been two days, brother. It takes time to find people sometimes," Loki says.

"Two days is going to drag into two weeks. Before I know it, it's going to be two months. Who knows where either of us will be by then?" Thor asks. "You know, things just keep changing. I know I have to change with it, but I don't want to change so much that Richard can't find me ever again."

"People change over time... We can't help it," Loki tries. "And I doubt you'd change that much. I grew up with you and you're still the same person after all these years."

"But what about _him_?" Thor insists. "What if Richard changes, by the time I cross paths with him again? What if he changes so much that I just pass him by?"

Loki pauses for a moment before he says, "This isn't about you or him changing."

"No, it isn't," Thor finally says.

"What is it?"

"The night was so perfect... You know I don't believe in cosmic signs but if they existed, that night was one. The universe told me I found the best person I'm ever going to meet, and I just let him go," Thor says dejectedly.

Loki contemplated Thor's words before asking, "Are you sure he's the one?"

"He could be," Thor answers. "He felt like it."

Loki nods before he says, "It's not a sign from the universe... You just have to realise that some things happen because they just... happen. You met because that's just how it went. You meet people every day. Cosmic signs is just people's way of explaining why they want something when they don't have a reason. That ring you've been staring at, that's just a ring. It's not the universe telling you to marry Richard the moment you find him. It's the universe telling you how much you love this guy. Now, do you want to leave?"

Thor nods, giving the star-like ring a final glance before following Loki out of the store. 

> "Kids, sometimes we just have to accept that maybe, there aren't any signs. Maybe we don't have to give meaning to every meeting, every little thing. Maybe a ring's just a ring and a chair is just a chair. Maybe we don't need the universe to tell us what we want, because deep down, we already know that. Meeting your father that wedding night wasn't some big cosmic sign, it's just a way to write off how quickly I fell for him. Loki was right. A ring is just a ring. The same way that love was just love. And I really did love your father. The truth is, cosmic signs only happen if you were looking for them. So, I guess that’s all I need to say. I was in love, and I didn’t even know his name.”


	4. On Our Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's the small things that matter even if they never fall through."

> "At the time, the actor and ex-boyfriend, Richard Rider had a movie coming out on _Netflix_ where he was playing the titular character, Nova. Your father was obviously bothered by it."

"Look who's on Netflix," Jessica says, leaning over to show Peter her _Netflix_ homepage. It's a promotional photo for _NOVA_ to announce the cast. Richard Rider is on front and centre.

"Can I date him?" Quentin asks.

"If I can beat your ass," Rocket replies, looking at him sharply.

"It was a joke," Quentin mutters.

Peter picks up his laptop, entering _Netflix_, "Well, I'm going to cancel my subscription."

Nebula points out, "_Lucifer_'s fifth and final season comes out next year."

Peter pauses before he closes his laptop slowly, "Well, I'm going to cancel my subscription _next year_. Anyway, who gives a shit about Richard Rider? I need to find Blake Odin."

"How are you going to start?" Mantis asks. "Your phone book didn't help."

"I'll have to remember the wedding night for any hints he could have dropped," Peter answers. As memories of the night flood into his mind, Peter doesn't realise that a smile is slowly growing on his face.

Gamora smiles, "Aw, you're smiling just thinking about him."

"I can't help it. It was so sweet," Peter grins. 

> "Your father still smiles like an idiot when he remembers the night we met."

"I remember he plays guitar," Peter finally says.

Jessica asks flatly, "Peter, do you realise how many blonde men can play a guitar in America?"

Peter shakes his head, "But how many only know one song?"

"He only knows one song?" Nebula asks, raising an eyebrow.

"_Mr Blue Sky_, ELO," Peter names. "He played and I danced. He's already becoming the love of my life."

"Funny how you said that about Richard three years ago," Quentin laughs. Peter freezes and lets out an unsettled chuckle, not really knowing how to respond to the sudden name drop.

"Hey, shut it," Rocket says, using his foot to push Quentin lightly in warning.

"I _did_ say that about him but Blake's different," Peter insists. "Richard was a mistake."

Quentin points out, "But you said you wanted to _marry_ him."

"_Three years ago_," Peter says icily.

"Shut up, Beck," Jessica says, sending him a warning stare.

Quentin says defensively, "It's the truth! I'm just saying, maybe don't be so quick to jump into this love thing again. Richard was the love of your life once and look what happened with that."

"Beck, please. The last time I've seen Peter this in love was three years ago. Even when he was dating me, he was always so... distracted," Gamora says, trying to mediate the situation when she notices Peter looking more and more dejected. "I think this is good for him. Blake could be different."

"Please, it's doing Peter good. Leave it alone," Mantis says quietly.

Quentin looks confused at everyone telling him to stop and continues, "I don't want to see Peter get hurt any more than you guys do. Come on, I'm just stating facts. He fell in love with Richard over the course of a week, dated for three years and then they broke up when Peter was about to marry him. What's to say Blake is any different?"

Peter sits down, getting more upset by the moment, "Quentin... Blake's different, just leave it alone."

Rocket finally cuts in, "Okay, normally, I don't say jack shit because let's be real, I can't care less about romance drama, but Peter is my best friend. I haven't seen him this happy and excited about a relationship since Richard. Like Gamora, I think it's good. It's time he moved on from Rider permanently. He can't let him weigh him down forever. Leave him alone. Quentin, come with me."

Quentin sighs but follows Rocket out of the room.

"Peter, are you okay?" Mantis asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm just... bummed out," Peter says. "Why is he so insistent about this? I know I fucked up with Richard. No, he fucked up with me, but Blake's not Richard."

"You know how Quentin is," Jessica frowns. "He's too much sometimes."

> "While that happened, Rocket was talking to Quentin in the other room."

"What's your deal?" Rocket starts. "Why are you so bent on bringing up Rider? You know he's still a sore subject for Peter."

"It's been _three years_, like you said earlier," Quentin snorts. "You would think he'd be able to talk about Richard by now."

Rocket rolls his eyes, exasperated, and says, "Yeah, sure, it's been three years. I'm not good at the whole emotions thing, but he was ready to marry Rider until he cheated on him. It's going to hit pretty hard where it hurts."

"I know what Richard did to Peter, but how can he be so sure Blake isn't the same?" Quentin asks.

"I trust Peter's judgement," Rocket says.

Quentin points out, "But... You said the same thing about --"

"So, what if I said the same thing?" Rocket snaps. "From what I've seen so far, Blake's made Peter feel better than he has in three years. It's good enough for me. I'll take it. I agree that he shouldn't fall in love with guys he doesn't know the name of, but I've already warned him. That's on Peter now, out of my hands. He asked for my help to find Blake and I'm going to do that so he can finally move on from Rider. You should be helping him too, if you were really his friend." 

> "Rocket insists that he whispered threats to him for five minutes straight, but your Aunt Gamora told me that that was what she overheard. Rocket's a good friend. Don't tell him I said that. While that happened, I was trying to get help from Matt."

"Matt? Matty. Matthew. Murdock?" Thor calls. Matt ignores him and Thor says, "Don't make me say it." Matt raises a questioning eyebrow and Thor says, "Fine. MattyBRaps."

"How _dare_ you associate me with MattyBRaps," Matt says, pretending to be disgusted. "The treachery. The obscenity. The audacity."

"Why are you so dramatic?" Thor grins, taking the empty chair next to Matt's desk. He's hanging out in Matt's office in Stark Industries. Matt worked in Tony's company as their in-house law consultant before starting his own firm years later.

"I'm not the one who's been waxing poetic about a dick rider from Sam and Bucky's wedding for the past three days," Matt says pointedly.

Thor smiles, "Speaking of him..."

Matt throws his hands up in disbelief, "I knew I shouldn't have brought it up."

"Come on, you work for Tony," Thor says.

Matt cocks his head in Thor's direction, "So do you. Or have you already forgotten?"

Thor props his head up on his hand, saying, "Yeah, but I'm only an intern in paperwork. You've got more pull as a full-time employee."

"Pull? For what?" Matt asks.

"Ask Tony to run a detailed search on Richard Rider."

"It's still going to be the actor, his search engine is not going to change that. It's still a fake name," Matt sighs.

"You already searched him up?" Thor asks, surprised.

"I was curious," Matt shrugs, turning away. "I'll see about Tony, alright? Go back to work."

> "I knew that Richard was an actor because of the night your father and I met, but none of my friends knew it yet. So, it was kind of a surprise that Matt knew. Then again, not so much after I found out he liked me romantically. Matt ended up never asking Tony to search Richard up. But the main thing from this was that we were on our way to finding your father. It's the small things that matter even if they never fall through." 


	5. Dances to ELO Richard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You can't cling to the past, because no matter how tightly you hold on, it's already gone."

> "You remember how Aunt Valkyrie was a model back in the day. She often did photoshoots with actors. You also recall that your father's ex was an actor."

"I have a new photoshoot appointment," Valkyrie announces. "It's with Richard Rider."

"Dick Rider?" Bucky clarifies. "_The_ Dick?"

"For God's sake, please just call him Richard," Stephen mutters.

Natasha laughs before saying, "Anyway, Richard. When Thor said he was beautiful, I didn't think he was _that_ beautiful."

Matt explains, "Because that's not the same Richard. The one Val is meeting is an actor with the same name."

Loki gapes, "Dear God, there's _two_ of them?"

Bucky jokes, "Two Richards? One of which is beautiful in Thor's standards and another pretty enough to be in a photoshoot with Val? Sam, I'm divorcing you so it wouldn't be cheating."

Sam nods, putting an arm around Bucky, "It's okay, baby, I understand. Which Richard do you want?"

"I want Thor's Richard," Bucky instantly says, eyeing Thor mischievously.

Sam grins, saying, "Then I'm taking Actor Richard."

Thor cuts in, "Stop, you can have Actor Richard but please don't take my Richard."

Natasha grins and pats Thor's head teasingly, "Relax, he's all yours."

"Do you think Actor Richard knows Thor?" Matt suddenly asks.

Valkyrie shrugs, offering, "I doubt it, but I can ask him. I'll let you guys know. I'm leaving in an hour for the photoshoot."

> "So, Valkyrie went for the photoshoot, where she met the real Richard Rider."

"Ms. Valkyrie! Over here to outfitting, and then there for hair and makeup," an assistant says to Valkyrie as soon as she comes into the studio. She nods and follows the assistant to the outfitting area, putting on the first outfit for the photoshoot. When she enters hair and makeup, she sees a man getting his hair styled and takes the empty vanity next to him.

"I'm Valkyrie," she introduces.

The man smiles at her through the mirror and says, "Richard Rider. Nice to meet you. You're even more beautiful in person."

"Thanks, I get that a lot," Valkyrie says. It's only a little false, because she didn't believe that this was the man Thor met at the wedding.

Richard turns to her as the stylist backs away to get a makeup artist and he asks, "Have you ever considered acting?"

"Maybe in a couple years," Valkyrie answers. "I'm sorry to say I haven't seen any of your shows or movies."

"Nah, that's cool," Richard says. "I'm just starting out."

"Hey, unrelated question. My friend met someone a while back who said they were Richard Rider. Do you know anyone named Thor? Or, uh, Blake?" Valkyrie asks, remembering at the last moment that Thor had named himself Blake Odin.

Richard looks up at the ceiling in thought before he frowns, "Nope. I don't know any Blakes. Or Thors, for that matter. Sorry, hope your friend finds the right Richard Rider. Pretty cool that we share a name, though."

"Hope so too," Valkyrie says. She thinks that the conversation has stopped there, but then Richard speaks again.

"I've been looking for someone myself," Richard says. "Do you happen to know any Peter Quills?"

Valkyrie thinks about it, "No. I know a Peter, but he's not Quill. Sorry about that."

"No worries. Thanks, anyway," Richard smiles, turning back to the mirror.

> "That was how your aunt Valkyrie first heard of your father. None of us knew it and she didn't think it was important to mention when she told us about her photoshoot later on. She did talk to me about finding your father when she came back from it."

Valkyrie sits down across from Thor in a coffee shop and starts, "Thor, it's time to be realistic. It's been a week. The chances of you finding your Richard are pretty close to nothing by now, especially if he's sharing a name with an up-and-coming actor. If his name is actually Richard Rider, he'll be drowned out by the actor in search engines."

"That's true," Thor admits.

Valkyrie sighs before offering, "Listen, if you want, I could set you up with Actor Richard."

Thor immediately says, "I don't want Actor Richard, Val. I want Dances to ELO Richard. I want Kissed Me Goodbye Richard. I want _my_ Richard."

Valkyrie smiles sadly, "Even if it takes you a long time to find him?"

"I'll spend years looking for him if it means I get to see him again," Thor answers honestly.

> "I really would have. If I didn't, it wouldn't have been love. Speaking of love, you know your cousin Peter Parker, Uncle Tony's adoptive son. Tony loved him like his own. Back then, Peter had nailed his first role that wasn't an extra. Unfortunately, we weren't that excited about the role as Tony was."

"Hey, everyone. Peter's here!" Tony shouts, coming into Thor's office with his son in tow. Sam was there to visit as he had been passing by, while Stephen was there to pick up some paperwork.

"Hey, kid," Sam greets. "What's up? Has Tony killed your boyfriend yet?"

"Why do you assume I would murder his boyfriend?" Tony asks defensively. "Speaking of which, I should really call someone to clean it up..."

"Clean what up?" Peter asks, concerned.

"Nothing," Tony quickly says.

> "No, Tony didn't kill anyone. Thankfully."

"Dad, please," Peter says. "Johnny is a good guy."

> "Peter was lucky, because he only ever dated one person in his life and he ended up marrying them. You know him, your cousin's husband, Johnny Storm. Anyway, not important."

"He better be," Tony mutters under his breath. "Anyway, tell them the news, kid."

Peter says excitedly, "I got casted in a movie!"

"That's amazing, congratulations," Stephen says, smiling.

"What movie is it?" Thor asks. "I'm going to mark my calendar for the release date."

Peter answers, "_NOVA_, on Netflix. Richard Rider is my co-star!"

> "See why we weren't that excited about his casting?"

Tony's face falls slightly at the mention of Richard Rider and Sam says, "Oh, boy. Who's gonna tell him?"

"I didn't know Richard was in that!" Tony promises Thor. Peter raises an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with Richard?"

"Nothing, kid," Tony quickly assures, pressing a kiss to Peter's forehead. "You're amazing and I love you. Go tell Johnny about it." Peter leaves Thor's office to call Johnny and Tony turns to Thor, "Thor, I promise I didn't know."

Thor waves him off, "It's fine, Tony. I'm not bothered by it, I swear."

"Are you going to stop your son from taking the role?" Sam questions.

"No, never. There is no universe where that would be a possibility," Tony instantly says. "I'm sorry you haven't found your Richard yet, Thor."

"It's fine," Thor repeats. "I'm heading out for lunch. Sam, do you want to come along?"

Sam gives him a strange look at the sudden invite, but when he catches Thor's pointed look between Tony and Stephen, he picks up the hint and accepts, "Sure, let's go. Catch you two later." Tony and Stephen wave goodbye and Thor and Sam leave the office.

"Going for lunch?" Peter asks, keeping his phone in his pocket.

Thor nods, "Yeah. Hey, can I talk to you before I leave?" Peter nods and follows Thor to stand a little further from Sam, who calls Bucky to tell him he's having lunch with Thor. Once they're alone, Thor says, "I need you to ask Richard something."

"Sure, anything," Peter says.

"Can you ask him if he knows another Richard Rider?" Thor asks. "Or just ask him if he's met a guy who has hazel eyes, blonde hair, sideburns like this --" Thor gestures on his face to show Peter "-- and about as tall as me." He holds a hand just a little under his full height.

Peter nods along and says, "Okay. I don't know if he'll have any good answers, but I'll ask."

"Thanks, kid. You rock," Thor grins. "I'll see you around. Come on, Sam."

> "It was a week later, after Peter had his first table read for NOVA, that he called me up to talk about Richard. Supposedly, this was how their conversation went, according to Peter. This is also the story of the first time he heard of your father."

"Hi, Mr Rider," Peter greets excitedly when he sees the actor seated at the conference table. Richard smiles up at him and shakes his hand.

"Hey. You must be Peter Parker," Richard says. "You excited for your first table read?"

"_Yes_!" Peter says.

Richard laughs, nodding, "That's cool, kid. You have your script?" Peter takes his copy out of the bag and Richard nods, impressed, "You've already done up tabs and highlights. Good job."

"Thanks," Peter grins. He remembers what Thor asked him to do and he says, "Uh, Mr Rider?"

"Please, Richard," he says.

"Richard. This sounds kinda weird, but do you know another Richard Rider?" Peter asks,

Richard gives him an amused look, "You know, someone else talked to me about a second Richard Rider just last week. Anyway, no, I don't."

Peter nods before asking, "Well, do you know a guy about this tall, sideburns like this with hazel eyes and blonde hair?" Peter does the same gestures Thor did when describing Dancer Richard.

Richard smiles, "I don't know any Richards like that, but I knew someone who fit that description. You know him?"

"Not personally, my friend described him to me," Peter says.

"His name isn't Richard Rider, so probably not the guy you're looking for," Richard says. "His name is Peter Quill. I haven't spoken to him in a while."

"He sounds special to you," Peter remarks.

"He was," Richard says, smiling to himself.

> "Peter didn't tell me about Peter Quill. When he finally told me a little while after I introduced your father to him, he said he didn't tell me about him because he felt that it was Richard's private business. I don't blame him. I wouldn't have known that it was your father anyway."

Before Peter can ask about Quill, he sees a brunet man walk in with a few sketches. The man walks in and talks to the director, showing his drawings and discussing with him. He changes his question, "Who's that?"

"Quentin Beck. He's the leading visual effects artists for NOVA," Richard answers. 

> "Yeah, kids. The same Quentin Beck your father was a friend of. Funny how life works, right?"

"I see," Peter nods. "He kind of looks familiar."

"Maybe he has one of those faces," Richard shrugs. "Or you could ask him when he comes over. He also helps in costume design, he might have a design to run by you."

Quentin wraps up his discussion with the director and is about to leave the room when Peter asks, "Hey, Quentin. Do I know you?"

Quentin looks him over and nods, "Peter Parker-Stark... I know your dad."

"You do?"

"A long time ago, I worked for him. He fired me and called me unstable," Quentin explains coldly.

"Quentin," Richard says a little warningly.

"Look, man, I'm sorry that happened," Peter says. "I didn't know about that. Either way, I don't want any trouble, I'm just here to make a good movie. You have this super cool job as a visual effects artist and technician, costume designer... Can we just be friends and move on from that?"

Quentin stares at him for a long while before he silently leaves the room. 

> "Peter did know about Quentin, actually. But if there was something he'd learnt from Tony, it was that you can't cling to the past, because no matter how tightly you hold on, it's already gone. Quentin was just one of those people who didn't know how to let go."


	6. Better Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Kids, if you love something, you can't let it go. Not even for a second. Or it's gone forever."

> "If you remember, your uncle Rocket was asked by your father to help him find me. So, Rocket did try. Rocket used to work for Tony, but they weren't close. Back then, Tony was in the midst of a bunch of projects, one of which was a type of facial recognition software, an advanced search engine. Rocket wanted to use Tony's program."

"Stark, I need a favour," Rocket says, knocking on the door of Tony's office.

"Sure. Come in. Close the door behind you," Tony says. "What do you need?"

Rocket shuts the door and sits down on the other side of Tony's desk, saying, "Well, I'm trying to find someone. You know that recognition software you were working on?"

"No," Tony's false answer comes. Rocket frowns.

"No?"

"No."

"You were working on it yesterday," Rocket tries. "It's operational."

Tony sighs and explains, "It may be operational, but it's still a little incomplete on the programming. Plus, the software hasn't been approved by the government yet. I haven't even tried this on anyone but myself. I'm not going to use it to search someone else, not until it's approved. I'm sorry. It's the responsible thing to do." At Rocket's disappointed look, Tony adds, "But tell me the name of the person you're looking for. Maybe I know them." 

Rocket decides there's no harm in trying and says, "Blake Odin. Does that ring any bells?"

Tony looks up thoughtfully before answering, "I knew someone named Odin, but he's not only old, he died years ago. I doubt that's who you're looking for. Unless... Is he who you're looking for?" 

"No," Rocket replies, pressing his lips together. 

"Then sorry. Out of luck," Tony says. "If I hear anything about Blake Odin, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Stark," Rocket says, leaving his office.

> "I was stupid enough to only tell my best friend, Valkyrie, about the fake name I gave your father. The only other person I'd told was Peter Parker, who didn't tell Tony about what I asked him to help me with. So, Tony didn't know about Blake Odin, and he didn't realise it was me Rocket was looking for. Long story short? Just use your real name... If you use a fake name, make sure all your friends know the name you used. Rocket told your father about his failed attempt."

"Hey, Quill," Rocket greets. "I asked my boss about Blake Odin. He said he knew someone named Odin, but he was old and he died years ago. That's all he knows."

"Oh, man," Peter groans. "I thought you said he had that recognition software."

Rocket explains, "He does, but he won't use it until it's approved."

Peter nods, saying reluctantly, "That sucks, but I see his reasons. It was the responsible thing to do."

"He fires his employees for no reason. I don't think he's that responsible," Quentin pipes up from the couch. "But who are we to judge?"

"_We_?" Jessica repeats, narrowing her eyes at him. "I think it's just you, Beck."

Quentin shakes his head, "No, I think Peter hooking up with his ex-boyfriend wasn't responsible."

"Back off," Rocket says, glaring at him from the doorway.

"I'm not wrong, though, am I?" Quentin asks innocently.

Jessica turns on the couch to face him as she says, "Either admit that you're wrong or I'll make sure your face is on the wrong side of your head."

"What are you implying?" Peter asks, frowning.

Quentin answers, "Just saying that, you know, maybe you're a little bit irresponsible for hooking up with Richard if you had no intention of getting back together with him?"

"How dare you even put the idea of Peter going back to Richard out there?" Gamora asks, voice low with irritation.

"I tolerate a lot of your shit, Beck, but this is my limit. Just shut the fuck up about Rider already," Rocket says loudly, clearly annoyed.

Peter scoffs, "So _I'm_ the irresponsible one for having a bad night because my boyfriend cheated on me? I had a right to be upset, Quentin. I'm sick of your shit. Just stop talking about him like you know him, because you don't!" Quentin stares at him but he doesn't say anything. 

"Get out," Jessica orders.

"This isn't your house," Quentin points out.

"But it's mine," Gamora says. "Get out."

> "Your father didn't feel very good after that whole conversation with Quentin, so he talked to Jessica about it. They weren't that close then, but he wanted a more objective view and Jessica was the most objective person he knew."

"Was I irresponsible to do that?" Peter asks quietly once he and Jessica were alone in his room. "Is Quentin right about me?"

Jessica looks him over, assessing his emotional stability, before she says, "He's wrong. You're not irresponsible. We all make mistakes sometimes, Quill. I don't know what stick's been up Beck's ass lately, but he has no business being all up in yours." 

Peter nods slowly before he says, "I just keep thinking about what he said just now. That thing about how I hooked up with him because I wanted to be with him again."

Jessica refrains from rolling her eyes, "Please don't tell me you're thinking about going back to him, because I swear I will kick your ass from here to next Tuesday."

"I'm not," Peter assures. "It's just that that stung... It's bringing back all these unresolved feelings about what happened. I was afraid of letting myself feel anything for anyone again after Richard. I let him get so close to me and he hurt me. I thought we were going to get married and I found him in bed with someone else. It just sucked that I never got an apology or a chance to come back from that. It sucked that everyone always thought Richard was the good guy and didn't believe me, because it was easier to believe I was a bad boy."

"I get that," Jessica says. "But anyone with a brain would know you were innocent."

"Yeah, but I can't explain it... Looking back on our relationship now, because of that whole thing about me being the bad boy and Richard being the good guy, there were so many moments where I thought I was the inferior one. Quentin bringing up Richard is just dragging back that inferior feeling to me and I don't... I don't want to feel like this, Jessica."

"Quill --"

"Sometimes, I just... God, why do I hate myself so much?" Peter asks, on the verge of tears.

Jessica was never good with emotions, so when Peter breaks down in front of her, she awkwardly places a hand on his shoulder. She tries to think of how her mother made her feel better when she was a kid. Her mother always brought her out for a walk, because "the air outside was just better than the air at home". Jessica doesn't really believe it nowadays, but it did help her clear her head sometimes.

"Go for a walk with me," Jessica finally says. "Get you some air, yeah? Does that sound good?" 

> "That day, a lot of people were upset, like Matt. He was upset that I would never feel the same way about him. Jessica was a close friend of his, and she decided that she could talk to both him and your father at the same time."

"Go ahead first. I'll catch up with you, just need to grab something," Jessica says. "My friend Matt should be in the park by now. If I don't get back early, find the guy in red glasses."

"Alright," Peter nods, putting on headphones. "But where are you going?" 

"Matt needs something. He's a little down too," Jessica explains. "I'll be back soon."

Peter nods again, playing a song -- _Father and Son_ by Cat Stevens. He pulls up the hood of his red hoodie and keeps his eyes to the ground, deep in thought. He's a little ways into the park when he narrowly misses bumping into someone. The person doesn't say anything, so Peter keeps walking, trying to find Jessica's friend Matt.

> "Let's backtrack. That same day, I was also a little sad, because it had been almost three weeks and I hadn't found your father. Carol invited me out to cheer me up, and as a thank you, I invited Valkyrie, her crush."

When Carol arrives at the park, she sees that Thor and Valkyrie are already there. She walks up to them, trying to push down her nerves. The sky rumbles a little bit and Carol jokes nervously, “Thor, stop it. I’m trying to make magic happen, not rain.”

Valkyrie laughs at her lame joke and Thor says, “I’ll leave you two to talk. It's the least I could do for you, since you offered to cheer me up.”

Carol tenses up, whispering to him, "Thor, you know I like her."

Thor gives her a faint smile, "I know you do. Which is why I invited her. Go for it, Carol."

"I'm scared, what if she turns me down?"

"If you're not scared, then you're not taking a chance," Thor says. "If you're not taking a chance, then what the hell are you doing anyway?"

Carol finally relents and says, "Fine. I'll tell her how I feel." 

Thor gives her an encouraging hug, "Take your chance, Danvers." He watches as Carol walks up to Valkyrie and talks to her. Thor hears the sound of footsteps behind him and he turns around, missing a stranger by a second. For a second, Thor swears he feels something in him pull him towards the man in the red hoodie. Is it possible he could be Richard, or was he just a random stranger? He considers stopping him just to check. There's no harm in it, right?

"Sorry," Thor says instead, hand dropping to his side. The person doesn’t say anything — he has headphones on, Thor’s guessing, so he decides to let it be. 

When he turns back around, he smiles at the sight of Carol and Valkyrie kissing, and it begins to rain. A pang of longing strikes his heart as he remembers the first time he kisses Richard on the wedding night and he wishes that he could kiss him right then.

Thor hadn't even noticed how he had just passed him by. Funny how life works. And Thor had been so sad that day.

> "That's the story of how I missed your father. And it was all because I didn't take a chance and stop him. It could have been us kissing in the rain. That night, I regretted my decision to give him a fake name more than before. Kids, if you love something, you can't let it go. Not even for a second. Or it's gone forever. I learnt that the hard way."


	7. Never Truly Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Life is just weird that way, but no matter how many times and chances you miss, if you were meant for it, there will always be another chance."

> "The day after the day everyone fell apart, your aunt Carol broke the news to the others that she and Valkyrie were now dating."

"Guess who got a girlfriend!" Carol announces, grinning from ear to ear. Her cheeks were tinted pink. 

Tony says, glancing between Carol and Valkyrie, "I, honest to God, thought you and Val have been dating for like a year now." Stephen nods in agreement.

"But we weren't together before today," Valkyrie says, confused.

"You act like it, lovebirds," Natasha says, unimpressed. "The only people who didn't know you two were dating were you two."

"Oh, weren't you at the park too?" Tony asks, looking at Matt. "I remember you saying you were leaving the office early to meet Jessica and a friend of hers. Is it Luke? I love Luke. If it's Danny, he can go fuck himself."

Natasha rolls her eyes, "You don't actually hate Danny."

Tony admits, "Yeah, I don't hate him. But it's funny as hell when he asks me why I hate him." 

Matt clarifies, "No, it was some guy named Peter Quill. He was upset about an ex-boyfriend." 

"Did he figure it out?" Thor asks. 

"He felt a lot better after he talked to Jessica and me about him," Matt says. "The guy was a jackass, so Quill was better off without him."

Stephen asks, "And what were _you_ there for?" 

> "Kids, a reminder that at the time, Matt liked me and met Jessica to talk about me. So, he couldn't answer the question."

"Just to vent," Matt answers. 

"About what?" Thor asks. Matt thinks for a moment. 

"Nothing, Thor. Absolutely nothing." 

> "That was the story of how I heard of your father for the first time. Speaking of fathers, your cousin Peter decided to have a talk with Tony about Quentin Beck. You remember, the visual effects artist and technician for _NOVA_ that Tony fired years before." 
> 
> "How is this important to how you met Dad?" Meredith asks, frowning.
> 
> "I'm getting to it. Just listen."

"Dad, I need your help," Peter says, walking into Tony's home workshop.

Tony puts his blueprints away and gives Peter his full attention, "Anything you need, Peter. What is it?" 

Peter starts, "So, you know how I went for the table read last week and we started filming yesterday?"

"Sure."

"There's a guy working here. Quentin Beck, you remember him, right?" Peter asks. At Tony's nod, Peter continues, "He holds a grudge against you because he said you called him unstable when you fired him. He confronted me at the table read." 

"He is unstable," Tony says. "He created a project that could have been used for good. The thing was, he wanted to weaponize it. I fired him before his project could get off the ground. I didn't want Stark Industries to have something so weaponizing as one of its core projects."

Peter nods understandingly, "That's good, I guess." He adds after a moment of hesitation. "But, now he won't stop tormenting me on set. I almost got hurt during a stunt because the onsite visual effects machines malfunctioned."

"What happened? Are you okay?" Tony asks, already all over Peter, checking for injuries. Peter nods.

"I'm fine. A projectile missed me by inches. If it hit me, I would have been injured in my eye," Peter explains. Tony's frown deepens into anger.

"I am going to _kill_ Quentin Beck," Tony grumbles. "Did anyone do anything?"

Peter answers, "The director chewed him out and some of the other actors and crew members checked on me."

Something in Tony propels him to ask, even though he knew this wasn't related to Thor's Richard in any way, "What about Richard Rider? Did he do anything?"

"No," Peter says quietly. 

> "You know Tony's protective. Sometimes, a little overprotective. When people he loves get hurt -- or, in this case, _almost_ hurt -- Tony makes rash decisions. So, I wasn't really that surprised to hear from him that he didn't want to help find your father after he relayed what happened to Peter to us."

"Thor, I know this isn't your Richard, but Actor Richard let my son get hurt by someone's antics," Tony says when he and Peter walk into the café he and a few friends agreed to meet at. "So, I'm sorry to say, but if your Richard associates himself with someone like that, then I don't want to find him."

Peter turns to Tony and instantly says, "Dad, you don't have to do that. Mr. Odinson didn't do anything."

"What happened?" Bucky asks. "Peter got hurt? Are you okay, kid?" 

"I'm fine," Peter says.

Tony explains, "Peter almost got hurt on set because of a former employee of mine with a grudge against me, and Rider didn't even bother to help."

"That's terrible," Thor says. "But I promise that's not the Richard we're looking for." 

"I know it isn't," Tony says. "And I know it's irrational to tie the two together but I am angry beyond words right now." 

"Tony, let's all just calm down and talk it out, yeah?" Sam says in his most placating tone.

"I'm protective, sue me!" Tony says. "I don't want to look for a guy who would, out of all names in the world, pick the name of an asshole like that. I'm out until I get this Quentin Beck thing sorted. I'll help you again eventually, but right now, I'm out. I'm sorry, Thor."

"I get it, Tony. He's your kid," Thor says. He's a little disappointed -- Tony is someone who Thor had been sure could find Richard. But he also understands how much Tony values family. 

> "That sucks," Jason comments. 
> 
> "Yeah, but it's family. All rationality goes out the window when it comes to family."
> 
> "If Uncle Tony is out, then how did you find dad?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "I'm getting there. Anyway, Stephen pulled me aside after that to talk."

"Hey, Thor. I know you really wanted Tony's help," Stephen says once they're alone.

Thor admits, "If anyone could find anyone, it would've been Tony. If I said I wasn't disappointed, I would be lying. I mean, it's really shitty what happened to Peter, but..."

Stephen smiles understandingly, "I know what you mean. I'll talk to him for you, try to calm him down, bring him around. I seem to have a kind of calming effect on him. Must be the doctor in me."

Thor returns the smile, but he was a little teasing, "It's not the doctor in you. It's the Stephen."

"What do you mean?" Stephen questions.

Thor finally says, "You do know he's in love with you, don't you?"

Stephen stares at Thor for a moment before glancing back at Tony, then back at Thor, "He is?"

"It was getting painful to just wait for the two of you to make a move, so I'm making it for you. I'm on a roll, anyway," Thor says, remembering pairing Carol and Valkyrie up just the day before. "Ask him out, Stephen. Don't worry about Richard right now." 

> "Stephen ended up asking Tony out and you know how that went. I mean, they're married now, so it's pretty obvious. The day after this was Peter's filming day. He didn't tell me about this until a year after I found your father again, because he didn't think this was important either. I don't blame him. When he told me, it really didn't sound important to us. It could have been about anyone. Peter was on set and it had been lunchtime. The director asked him to find Richard, so he did, but he was talking to someone."

"Did you do it?" Richard asks in a hushed voice. Peter ducks to the other side of the tent so he could eavesdrop on their conversation. 

> "Usually, I say eavesdropping is bad, but in this case, I approve." 

"I've been putting the idea in his head for a while now but I had to stop because the others were getting a little jumpy and threatening to kick me from the friend group," Quentin says. Peter's eyes widen -- he hadn't thought Richard and Quentin were more than co-workers, much less friends. Quentin continues, "I brought up that thing you said the other day."

Richard sighs, "I can't stop thinking about it, Quentin. Why would he hook up with me if there wasn't a small part of him that missed what we had?"

"Did you know he wanted to marry you?" Quentin asks quietly.

"I didn't," Richard admits slowly. "But, this is good. This means I might have a shot at getting him back, and with your help, this might go through."

"I'm always here for you," Quentin says. "But he's in love with someone else." 

"Who?"

"He was given a fake name. None of us know who he really is," Quentin answers.

Richard groans, "Damn. I thought that if we had his name, I could find this guy, keep him away from him, you know? I have a chance to get back with him, I'm not taking any chances." 

> "Peter left after that, kind of reeling from that conversation. He had no idea who they were talking about then, so he didn't share it with anyone. But, you see now how much of a jackass Richard and Quentin were."
> 
> "Did Dad find out about them?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "He will, but more on that later. You know that Stephen asked Tony out the day before. They had a date planned later on in the day and Tony wanted to complete all his work before the date. So, he called me."

"Thor, buddy," Tony says, knocking on Thor's office door to get his attention. "I need that paperwork I asked for in thirty minutes. Can you finish it and bring it to the workshop by then?"

"Yeah, I can. Sorry, it's taking so long," Thor apologizes, quickly clicking across his desktop to the incomplete paperwork. Thankfully, he didn't have that much left to do.

Tony smiles, "No worries, pal. Just have it to me in thirty and we're cool." 

Tony is about to leave when Thor calls him back, saying, "I'm really sorry about Peter, Beck, and Richard, by the way. I completely understand that you don't want to help. I would have done the same." 

Tony explains, "I do still want to help you. You're one of my best friends. Sure, I was mad at first, but I calmed down. Steph talked to me about it, I thought about it, and I would never let something like that affect my friendship with you. But before I help you, let me destroy Actor Richard and Beck's lives first and then I'll find your future husband."

Thor grins gratefully, "Thank you, Tony."

"No problem. I love you, man," Tony replies honestly. "Paperwork, thirty." 

"Twenty," Thor affirms. "As thank you."

Tony laughs, blowing him a kiss before he leaves his office. 

> "That same moment, your uncle Rocket had forgotten his toolbox at home and asked your father to help bring it to the workshop in twenty minutes before Tony finds out he didn't have his tools with him. Your father agreed and said he'd bring it round in fifteen minutes. He found the toolbox and brought it to Stark Industries while I was finishing up on paperwork."

“Hey, Matt,” Peter greets as he walks past the legal department to get to the workshop. Matt smiles and greets him back before Peter runs down the hallways, trying to get to the workshop before Rocket’s boss does. The last time Rocket was caught without his toolbox at his old workplace, it wasn’t pretty. Rocket thought he was going to get fired. Though Tony had never caught Rocket without his tools before, neither Peter nor Rocket wanted to take that chance.

He bursts through the doors — Rocket is alone in the workshop. Rocket looks up from his laptop and sighs in relief, “Thanks, Quill.”

“No problem,” Peter says, placing the toolbox down on the table. Rocket immediately opens it and begins work on a drone prototype. Peter asks, “What are you guys working on?”

“Private info,” Rocket answers. Obviously, a practiced answer. When Rocket got the job at Stark Industries, he told the others that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. At this point, Peter merely asked to pass the time.

Rocket takes a look at his phone and says, “He’s coming up in one, maybe you want to leave now.”

Peter nods and asks, “Any shortcuts? I don’t think I’m that keen to meet your boss.”

> "He met his boss."

“Yeah, go the other way, there’s an elevator that’ll take you to the lobby,” Rocket answers, pointing in the opposite direction Peter came from. Peter nods and bids him goodbye before he walks out. 

> "At that point of time, I had just finished the paperwork." 

“I’m printing the paperwork,” Thor mumbles into his phone as he waits for the documents to print, copy by copy.

Tony’s voice on the phone replies, “I’m just passing legal right now. You aren’t far behind. Just saying, you have about five minutes to reach before you can go work for Nat." 

“You’re lying,” Thor says, a little nervously.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Tony answers. “Tick tock, Odinson.” Tony hangs up and walks down the hallway, seeing a man in a red jacket leave the workshop. He calls out, “Hey, who are you?”

“Peter Quill, a friend of Rocket’s? He’ll tell you. I was just here to visit,” the man answers, worry on his face. Clearly, he's a little anxious about being caught on Stark Industries territory without being employed there. 

“Oh, you’re that guy Matt met at the park with Jones. Interesting,” Tony remembers.

“Yeah. Sorry for intruding on your building, I’ll just go now,” Peter says awkwardly.

“No, it's fine. Do you want a tour? Any friend of Matt’s is a friend of mine,” Tony offers. “I’m free anyway.” An absolute lie. He just wanted something to destress him over his date with Stephen later.

“No, I have to get going. My friend Quentin needed something —“

“Quentin. Quentin Beck?” Tony asks, his attention taken. 

“Um, yeah... How did you know?” 

“Say, can you give me your number? I plan to settle something with him, and your help may come in handy,” Tony says.

“Settle — What did he do to you?” Peter asks, confused. 

“He tried to hurt my kid and I can’t let that slide. Plus, his co-star Richard Rider didn’t do anything, that dickhead,” Tony mutters. “I plan to settle a score. Are you in?” 

Peter thinks about how much of a not-friend Quentin had been lately. _Did I even want to do that favor Quentin asked me for? He has been a real dickhead lately. _Eventually, Peter comes to an answer. He gives Tony his phone number. 

“Text me whenever, but I really have to go now,” Peter says and Tony waves goodbye, a smile on his face. As Peter walks the opposite direction, the elevator dings and the doors open.

Thor walks out just as the doors of the opposite elevator close. He can barely see a man in a red jacket in it before the doors close completely. It reminds him of the red hoodie man from the park. 

“Who’s that?” Thor asks as he walks up to Tony.

“Peter Quill, the guy Matt talked about, the guy with Jones, remember?” Tony says, taking the paperwork. “A promise is a promise, I guess. You made it with two minutes to spare. I’ll go get ready for that date with Steph...”

“Fantastic,” Thor grins. “Text me about how it goes.”

“You’re such an asshole,” Tony rolls his eyes. “Anyway, that Quill guy was kind of cute. If you don’t find the real Richard, I have that guy’s number.” 

“You know what? I’ll take the number. I trust your judgment,” Thor says. “But I won’t call it unless it doesn’t work out with the _real_ Richard." 

“_Your_ love life,” Tony smiles, sending Quill’s number to Thor. “_Your_ call.” 

> "Kids, that's the story of the _second_ time I missed your father and how I got his number. To think that if I had just gone up a different elevator, or if I had finished printing just a minute earlier, I could have seen him again. Life is just weird that way, but no matter how many times and chances you miss, if you were meant for it, there will always be another chance. Speaking of chances, your father once said he never had the chance to figure things out with Richard. He got his chance later that week, when he went to a music store to buy an Electric Light Orchestra CD for when he finds me again.”

Richard gets a copy of a _Fall Out Boy_ album and is about to go pay for it when he stops in his tracks, smiling, "Peter Quill."

Peter contemplates leaving, but the conversation he had with Tony bothered him, so he decides to stay and get some answers, "Richard." 

"How are you?" Richard asks, going closer.

Peter makes a disclaimer, "This is not an attempt to reconcile with you. I don't want that. I just want some honesty from you."

"Of course. Ask me anything you want to know," Richard says.

"Is it true that Quentin tried to hurt your co-star, Stark's kid? And you didn't do anything about it?" Peter asks.

Richard winces slightly, but he eventually answers truthfully, "Yes, to all of that. I don't want to lie to you."

"It's funny how you had no problem with doing that before," Peter says bitterly.

"Which is why I'm telling you the truth now!" Richard points out. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything about it."

Peter asks, "Why didn't you? Quentin shouldn't have tried to hurt him."

"I know, but... it wasn't my place to do anything about it. It wasn't my business, it was between Quentin and the kid's dad. Not me," Richard explains. 

"Since when do you ever stay in your own business?" Peter scoffs. Richard gives him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry I cheated, Peter. I don't do that anymore. You have to believe me. I've changed. I regret what I did to you. Just know that I love you and I want you back," Richard says.

Peter doesn't say anything for a while, thinking about it. Not one part of him wanted to get back together with Richard. His image was tainted forever. He says quietly, "We don't always get what we want."

"Please, just give me a chance," Richard pleads. "You wouldn't have slept with me that night if there wasn't a part of you that didn't want this, want _us_, back." The words were familiar to Peter. He remembered Quentin saying them the day he and Jessica went to the park for a walk. A sinking feeling finds its way into him.

"Just shut up," Peter cuts in, angered. "You ruined everything the day I found out you had someone else. Tell me who it was."

"Peter, come on --" 

"Tell me who it was, Richard. And don't lie about it, because you know I won't fall for your shit again," Peter says. A moment of thought crosses Richard's eyes. Peter's sure Richard was thinking about lying, but he ultimately decides on telling the truth.

"It was Quentin," Richard confesses.

"Of _course_, it is," Peter almost laughs in disbelief. "Why didn't I realise it sooner? How much he talked about you, even when we were dating. I didn't want to believe it, but a part of me always knew he was in love with you."

"Peter, wait --" 

"No, fuck you. Fuck Quentin. Don't text or call me again, and if you see me, you better walk the other way. I don't want to see your face for the rest of my life," Peter says coldly, putting down his copy of _Electric Light_ _Orchestra_'s _Out of the Blue_ CD and leaving the store.

> "That was the last time your father ever talked to Richard Rider. On another note, your father contacted Tony afterwards to tell him he was all for helping him with Beck and Rider. That was how Tony became good friends with your father. They talked for hours after the music store incident."

"Thor!" Tony says when he visits Thor's apartment. "Honest to God, this Quill guy is great. I was on the phone with him for hours and he's amazing." 

"So what?" Thor asks, laughing at Tony's enthusiasm. 

"So, you should call him!" Tony elaborates. "As your good friend and occasional wingman, I am saying that he could be The One!"

"I'll think about it, okay? But not until I find Richard," Thor replies. "I'm not giving up on him just yet."

"Okay, but just FYI, he's a catch. You better find Richard and sort things out quick before someone else picks him up," Tony warns, though there's a playful smile on his face. 

> "Before that conversation that, looking back on it now, I want to scream at myself to just call Peter Quill already, I already mentioned that Tony was on a call with your father. Before they hung up, they talked about me."

"You're really fun to talk to," Peter says, finally de-stressed from the encounter with Richard at the store. "I could come by your office tomorrow for lunch if that offer still stands."

"Please do, I love being your friend already. I want to have lunch with you," Tony says excitedly. "Also, before you hang up, I have this friend. I think he could be a really good match for you."

Peter laughs, joking, "A friend, ally against evil _and_ a wingman? I'm lucky to have you already."

"I know, I'm a blessing," Tony grins. "His name is Thor. I talked to him about you already and I'm pretty sure he would be alright with me giving you his number. If you want it, of course."

Peter thinks it over before saying, "I'm a little caught up with someone else right now --" 

> "He was talking about me."

"-- but why not? I'll think about it."

"Great. I'll text you his number. Tell me if you call him," Tony says. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You too, man."

> "And that's the story of how your father got my number. He didn't call it because he wanted to find me first, the same way I was looking for him so I didn't call him. A part of me wishes that we had both just decided to call the other. But, in a way, I'm glad we didn't. Because it would have meant that one of us had given up on finding the other. If that happened, then it was never truly love, wasn't it? You don't give up on love, because it's just not something disposable. It's about three days after that happened that your father ran into Quentin outside a restaurant near the filming site for _NOVA_."

"Peter?" Quentin calls, surprised. "We haven't spoken in a while. You haven't invited me over." 

"I honestly don't see why I should," Peter says. "And I know about it."

"About what?"

"It all makes sense now. Why you kept bringing up Richard, why you seemed so motivated to help him get me back," Peter says. He didn't really feel angry anymore, he just wanted to settle things once and for all. "That person you said you were in love with, that one time we both got drunk at the bar last year, you were talking about Richard, weren't you?"

Quentin tries, "Peter, I can explain --"

"So, you made a move while he was still my boyfriend. That's low, even for you," Peter says coldly. Before Quentin can defend himself, Peter says, "Richard already told me everything. No use lying. I know you're used to doing that anyway. Also, what the hell was up with you trying to hurt Tony's kid?"

"Tony fired me for unjustifiable reasons," Quentin defends.

"He told me about his reasons and they sound justified to me," Peter refutes.

"Peter, please. We're friends."

"No. Friends don't sleep with my boyfriend, act like they didn't do anything after that, lie to my face repeatedly and try to force me back with him," Peter says, tired of Quentin. "I said the same thing to Richard. Don't contact me again. We're done. You're not my friend." Peter doesn't even give Quentin a chance to say anything else before he walks away. 

> "He didn't speak to Quentin ever again after that talk. You will be shocked when you realise just how easy it is to part ways with people forever, especially if they've wronged you badly. Sometimes, all that good history can't repair the damage done. I said earlier on that sometimes, things fall apart to make way for better things. If your father hadn't found out about Quentin, he might never have become good friends with Tony, and I might never have found him again."
> 
> "Did Dad get revenge?" Jason asks, interested.
> 
> "Tony and your father got their revenge. And, I gotta admit, it was pretty sweet."
> 
> "What did they do?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "I'm not telling you. Just know that they'll never mess around with either of them again."


	8. I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There’s just something about the way Quill feels that’s very familiar.”

> "It was around a week after the whole Richard-Quentin deal with your father that Jessica was finally introducing your uncle Matt to her friend, Frank Castle. Your aunt Natasha ran a boxing ring at the time called Black Widow Boxing Ring. Bucky and Carol worked there full-time. We didn't realise it until later, but your father's friend, Mantis, worked part-time there. Jessica wanted to set up a meeting between Matt and Frank at Black Widow, since Matt spent a lot of his out-of-office hours there. He liked to box. While she asked Frank to meet her and Matt, your aunt Mantis asked your father for a ride to Black Widow since her girlfriend, Nebula's car was out for repairs. Your father agreed. Meanwhile, I was tied up in work."

"Loki, I'm a little busy with my work, but Matt texted me to say he left his Muay Thai ropes at his office from the time he went to work straight from Nat's. He asked me to bring them to him, but as I said, I'm busy. Can you help me bring them to him?" Thor asks when Loki picks up the phone.

Loki answers, picking up his apartment keys, "I didn't really need the Wikipedia page of his Muay Thai ropes, but sure, I'll bring them to him." 

"He needs them by 2," Thor says. 

"No problem. I'll be at Stark Industries in fifteen minutes. Just bring the ropes down to the lobby for me."

> "My brother came to the office in fifteen minutes, as he said he would."

Loki shows up at the office, where Thor was already waiting in the lobby with Matt’s ropes. Loki takes them from him and says, “This is the _last_ errand I’m running for you.” 

> "It was not."

“Of course. This is the last time," Thor promises. 

> "It was not."

"I just have a lot of work today,” Thor says. “Tony won’t stop telling me to call that Quill guy.”

“You’re _still_ on Richard?” Loki asks, unimpressed.

“Yes, because he’s perfect and I’m pretty sure I’m in love with him. Can you blame me for trying to find him?” Thor replies. 

Loki raises an eyebrow, saying, “You can’t tell me you _haven’t_ thought about calling Quill.”

“I already said I would think about calling him _if_ I can’t find Real Richard,” Thor says. When Loki only stares at him, Thor sighs, “It’s not my fault. There’s just something about the way Quill feels that’s very familiar.”

“Well, how does he look? Maybe if I see him, I can pinpoint it for you.”

“I didn’t see his face, but he wears red jackets and has blonde-brown hair,” Thor shrugs. 

“I’ll pinpoint it if I ever see him around,” Loki says. “Just so that you’ll finally move on. And I’ll get these to Matt.”

“Thank you, brother.” 

> "Around that time, your father had just arrived at Black Widow with Mantis and Nebula."

“Can we show you around? I can’t believe this is the first time you’ve been here,” Mantis says as she and her girlfriend Nebula exit Peter’s car.

Peter thinks about it, deciding that his schedule is empty until Tony comes forward with a plan to destroy Quentin and Richard, so he agrees, “Sure. Show me around.” Mantis grins and gives Peter a hug. She’s pretty affectionate but nobody complains. Not even Nebula, who’s... not so affectionate.

Mantis takes Peter’s hand and leads him into the boxing ring while Nebula trails behind. Inside, there were a few people training. A redhead — Peter had heard from Mantis that she was the owner of the boxing ring — was talking to a blonde woman. He decided that the blonde was Carol Danvers, one of Mantis’ co-workers. The model who was part of Richard’s photoshoot, Valkyrie, was there too, standing with Carol. He looks around some more until his eyes land on a familiar face.

“Matt?” Peter calls. The man stops sparring with a random guy and grins, wiping his sweat with his wrist.

“I thought Jessica was coming,” Matt says. "Didn’t expect you to be here."

Peter nods, “Yeah, Mantis just wanted to show me around. I didn’t know you boxed. You're _amazing_ at this." 

“I’m better with my ropes, but they aren’t here yet,” Matt shrugs. “I think you’ll like it here, it’s pretty nice. You know, when you’re not losing.” Peter laughs as Matt returns to his sparring match. 

> "Black Widow wasn't that far from Stark Industries, it was a ten minute walk. My brother arrived not along after your father did."

At the entrance, the doors open and Loki walks in, holding the Muay Thai ropes in his hands. He looks around, trying to find the brunet man. He soon spots him at his usual boxing ring station, but then something else hits him — a blonde man wearing a red jacket. Carol comes up behind him and grins, “Is that for Matt?”

“Yes, Thor had me bring them,” Loki answers. “Who’s that man with Matt?” 

“Oh, I don’t know. Since he's talking to Matt, I think he’s Peter Quill, the guy Tony won’t shut up about,” Carol laughs. “Go say hi, if you’re so curious.”

“Maybe I will,” Loki says, walking forward. He holds the ropes up against the station and says, “Matt, your ropes.” Matt slows down to a stop and takes them from him, thanking him as he puts them on before returning to the match. Loki turns to Peter and says, “You must be Peter Quill.” 

“I am,” Peter says, smiling. 

“I see,” Loki mutters, nodding to himself. “Nice to meet you, I’m Loki.”

> "That's the story of how your uncle Loki met your father. Sometimes, I think about how if I hadn't left my work for the next day, the night before, I might have met your father then. But, you know, the way we met was a lot better than meeting in a boxing ring full of sweaty people getting beaten. So, I consider this an absolute win. My brother told me about Peter Quill when he called me after dropping off the ropes."

"I got the ropes to Matt," Loki says into the phone. "Also, you'll never guess who I ran into there. Peter Quill. He was there with his friends and was watching Matt boxing. I went up to him and we talked for a while. Tony's right, I think you'd really like him."

"Thank you for the ropes, Loki, but come on," Thor says.

"No, you come on," Loki replies. "I know this search meant a lot to you, but what are the chances you find Richard again?" At Thor's silence, Loki says, "Tony told me he gave you Peter Quill's number. Call him, give him a chance. If you run into Richard in the future then it's your choice what you do, but for now..."

"I already said I'll call him if it doesn't work out with Richard," Thor says, tone final. "My mind isn't changing."

Loki relents, "Fine. Also, Tony wants to celebrate Rhodey's promotion in the army, so we're going to Valhalla bar this weekend."

"By we, you mean?" 

"Not everyone could make it, so it's you, me, Tony, Stephen, Rhodey, Sam, Bucky, Carol, and Natasha," Loki answers. 

"Sure. I'll be there, I missed Rhodey," Thor says. "Goodbye." 

"Bye, brother."

> "Remember how I said Tony and your father set out to ruin Richard and Quentin? I already said I'm not telling you what they did, but the same day Loki met your father, Tony told the rest of us that his son was offered the lead role for _NOVA_, which originally belonged to Richard. Which meant that Richard got kicked off the show. We also got notified that Quentin was removed from _NOVA_'s crew. This is in no way important to the story, but you look like you wanted to know what happened. Anyway, the Valhalla bar was important, because we came to a revelation while we were in the limo Tony rented on the way to the bar."

"Are you excited?" Tony asks, popping a bottle of champagne in the limo. "Valhalla in five minutes!"

"There's champagne at the bar, Tones," Rhodey laughs as Natasha dodges the stray cork.

Bucky looks up from his phone and says, "Oh my God, Sam. They're having the same DJ at Valhalla today as the one we hired for our wedding." 

"What DJ?" Carol asks. "The DJ at your wedding was so good." 

"It was called Star-Lord DJ," Sam answers. "They're good, right?" 

"Star-Lord DJ?" Thor repeats, remembering it from somewhere.

"Yeah, Star-Lord DJ, why?" Sam asks.

> "Kids, a detail I forgot to tell you about, because it was just so small. The night your father and I met, he had a pin on him that said 'STAR-LORD'. I didn't think it meant anything at the time. You know this now, that your father's mom used to call him that when he was younger."

"Oh my God," Thor realizes. "Richard is Star-Lord DJ." 

"_What_?" Carol exclaims. Bucky almost falls over in his place in the limo.

"Are we meeting Thor's future husband in one minute?" Bucky asks, shaking with excitement. "Holy shit!"

"Let's not be too hasty. Do we know which employee of Star-Lord DJ is on tonight?" Loki asks. 

Sam starts getting as excited as Bucky as he informs, "Star-Lord DJ is one person!"

"No wonder he wasn't on the guest list! He was part of the _wedding crew_ as the DJ!" Thor says, about to burst with the realization that he's less than a minute away from meeting him again.

"His name isn't Richard Rider, his name is Peter Quill!" Tony shouts, raising his phone which was on the Wikipedia page for Star-Lord DJ.

"I can't believe we knew him the _whole_ time," Stephen says disbelievingly.

"Who cares if we did? He's inside that bar!" Sam says as soon as the limo pulls to a stop in front of Valhalla.

Tony almost shoves the champagne bottle into Thor’s face, “Your husband is in there! Thor, holy shit!”

“I heard you!” Thor replies, laughing. He can’t believe he finally found him. He also can’t believe he didn’t call him when people kept asking him to. When the universe gives you a sign, you better follow it. 

“What are you waiting for? Go in,” Carol says, trying to pull Thor into the bar. 

“We’re gonna attend another wedding!” Bucky cheers, pushing open the doors. “Come on, Thor!”

Thor and his friends step through the doors of Valhalla, all of them looking around and gazes landing on the DJ, the same blonde man with a red jacket and that smile Thor fell in love with on Sam and Bucky’s wedding night. Peter Quill sways slightly to the music, smiling as he looks out at the crowd. He hasn’t seen them yet.

“Thor, hurry up,” Sam mutters. “He ain’t gonna DJ forever.”

Adrenaline propels Thor forward and he walks up to the DJ station. He wants to shout out to him, but his nerves are stopping him. 

“Why is he just staring?” Stephen asks Tony. 

“You did the same thing at your clinic the day you asked me out,” Tony replies, shaking his head.

Peter smiles and looks down before he freezes. “Blake Odin?”

“It's Thor Odinson, actually,” Thor grins. "Peter Quill."

Peter pulls off his headphones and gets down from the station, muttering, “I love you.” He pulls Thor into a kiss, which makes all of Thor’s friends cheer from the side. 

> "And that, kids, is the full story of how I met your father."


	9. Epilogue: Even If You're Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The vows I wrote are too perfect for the real world. So, I'm going to make vows I can actually keep."

> "How did your wedding go?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "I thought you kids thought this story was a punishment."
> 
> "The story turned out to be pretty cool," Jason mumbles reluctantly. "How did it go?"
> 
> "Well, it starts with how we proposed to each other at the same time purely out of sheer coincidence about four years after we started dating. What were the odds of both of us proposing on the same day, time and place, huh?"
> 
> "That's so cute, Papa. How did you both propose?" Meredith asks, grinning in awe. 
> 
> "Just to catch you up to the time period; Tony and Stephen were married, Carol and Valkyrie had been broken up since half a year ago. Natasha's boxing ring was sold and she settled into owning a gym with all her old employees and some new ones. Matt got his own law firm with a man named Franklin Nelson and had been dating Frank Castle for two years. Life was pretty good for most of us. Anyway, the proposal. We were out together at Valhalla. You remember the bar where your father and I found each other again. We only go to Valhalla for special occasions, because the drinks there were expensive. That day, we were there to celebrate our engagement."
> 
> "I thought this was about your proposal," Jason says. "Why did we skip over that?" 
> 
> "I didn't skip over the proposals. Neither of us had asked yet. Your father organized the outing under the cover of him and his friends starting a band together. They didn't start a band, you know that, but he needed a reason to gather everyone and for us to be at Valhalla. The outing was the four-year anniversary of the day your father and I found each other again. He wanted to propose to me there."

"That's our boy!" Tony says proudly, hugging Peter as Stephen pops champagne. Everyone cheers and starts settling into their own conversations. Thor pulls Loki aside to talk privately. Loki asks, "Hey, Thor. Thought you would want to be with your boyfriend for his big moment."

"Hey, Loki. About that, I'm going to have my own big moment," Thor says quietly. At Loki's confused expression, Thor turns so none of the others could see what's in his hands. He opens the small velvet box, revealing a bright ring inside.

"Is that the same one we saw years ago at that ring shop?" Loki asks, going closer to see.

"It is," Thor grins.

"Thor, this ring is _beautiful_," Loki says, admiring the ring. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, let's just see if he says yes, first," Thor says, grinning. He can tell his face is red from anxiety and excitement.

Loki assures, "He is going to say yes. Thor, he is in _love_ with you! Anyone can see that! Why would he say no?"

"I don't know," Thor admits. "It's just pre-proposal scares."

"This is going to be amazing, brother," Loki promises. "When are you going to ask?"

"In ten minutes," Thor says. "The exact time we saw each other again."

Loki says jokingly, "That's so romantic, I'm going to puke." He goes back to being serious and says, "But, in all honesty, I'm really happy for you two. I've never seen you this excited being with someone. You know, if you had to get married to someone, I'm glad it's him."

"Thank you, Loki. It means a lot coming from you," Thor says. "You've always stuck by me." 

"And I will keep being by your side. That's what brothers are for," Loki says, smiling.

> "He kept his word."

"Five minutes," Loki notes.

Thor suddenly says, "Loki, before I forget... Can you have the DJ play _Fooled Around And Fell In Love _by Elvin Bishop when I ask him?"

Loki frowns, "Why that song specifically?"

"First song we danced to," Thor says, smiling.

Loki's eyes widen in realization and he nods, "Of course, I'll get him to play it."

> "While I was talking to your uncle Loki, your father was talking to Rocket. So backtrack five minutes."

Thor leans over and says, "Honey, I need to talk to Loki for a moment. Will you be okay?" 

"Yeah, sure. Go talk to him," Peter says, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Thor grins back and walks off to talk to Loki. Once Thor is out of earshot, Peter takes the chance and pulls Rocket to the side, away from the bar-top to a secluded area of the bar. He starts, "I need to talk to you."

"I'm not being your band's manager," Rocket instantly says. 

"I don't need you to be my manager," Peter says, pulling out a velvet box from his pocket. "I need you to be my best man."

Rocket freezes as his gaze fell on the velvet box. Quietly, he asks, pointing at it, "Is that..."

"Yeah."

"Are you..."

"I am," Peter nods, a small smile growing on his face. Rocket's mouth falls open and Peter opens the box to show off the ring.

Rocket says, "Peter, that's... I'm not one for stuff like this but that's awesome." 

"I'm going to ask him in ten minutes, it's the time we first saw each other again at Valhalla," Peter tells him. "I wanted to tell you because I need you to help me keep my nerves in check." 

Rocket nods, "I can do that, no problem. Pete, that ring is gorgeous."

"You're not planning to steal it from me, right? I saved up a lot of money for this," Peter says, laughing nervously.

"Relax, your ring is safe from me, lover-boy," Rocket says. "But seriously, man. That's incredible.

"It's going to be fine," Peter repeats Rocket's words. "My question still stands, Rocket. If he says yes, will you be my best man?"

"Yes," Rocket says after contemplating it. Peter grins and pulls him into a hug, which Rocket returns. When they separate, Rocket puts the box back in Peter's hands and says, "A minute until your boyfriend is your _fiancé_. Are you ready?"

"My whole life has been leading to this," Peter says, trying to calm himself down and collect his thoughts. Rocket pats his back encouragingly and they watch Thor straighten up and turn to look at Peter.

"Go get him, Quill."

Thor and Peter walk over to each other and, in a surprising turn of events, both of them get down on one knee.

Rocket and Loki look at each other in disbelief before looking back down at their friends. Tony grabs onto Stephen's arm in surprise. Mantis' eyes widen as she turns to Gamora and Nebula, shocked. Sam and Bucky hold onto each other in excitement. Carol looks at Natasha and Matt, saying something to them with surprise all over her face. Matt's face slowly grows into a smile after Carol finishes speaking. Valkyrie has her hands over her mouth in shock. Jessica starts coughing, choking on her alcohol from sheer surprise.

Peter and Thor stare at each other, both down on one knee, velvet boxes in their hands before they start to laugh.

"So, no band?" Thor asks, trying to stop himself from tearing up.

"Just the DJ," Peter says, smiling until his cheeks hurt. "Thor... What were the odds?" 

"One in 14,000,605," Thor jokes, feeling his heart beating out of his chest.

Peter chuckles at it before he says softly, "Then I'm glad you were that one."

Thor smiles as he says, "Nobody else could have been that one... I have a question for you."

"Will you marry me?" Peter asks, grinning.

Thor pretends to groan, "I can't believe you asked first."

"Will you?" 

"Yes," Thor answers, unable to stop the tears at that point. "Will you marry me?" 

"Yes," Peter answers. Laughing as they cry, Peter and Thor put their engagement rings onto each other's fingers. And, as the stars would have it, they were the same star-like ring.

The pop of a champagne bottle and the sound of Elvin Bishop playing on the bar's speakers bring Peter and Thor into a passionate kiss as their friends cheer through their tears.

"We're getting married!" Thor shouts, pressing another kiss to Peter's lips as Bucky sobs into Sam's chest over the proposal. Matt takes off his glasses to wipe his eyes dry. Even Rocket and Nebula tear up a little.

"I'm glad it's you," Peter grins, kissing Thor again.

> "That's so cute," Meredith sighs in admiration. "So how was the wedding?"
> 
> "The wedding day and the day before was an emotional rollercoaster. We'd been there for a week, and it was finally the day before. It starts with me, Loki, Valkyrie, Tony, Stephen, your cousin Peter, Matt, Frank and Natasha going out. The others were going to be somewhere else. Your father and I agreed the night before to not see each other until the ceremony itself, just for kicks. Our goals for the day was to check with the florist and finalise guests who were confirming their attendance. You know, people who couldn't show at the last minute or people whose schedules were suddenly free. Your father was tasked with handling the band that we hired to play at the wedding and taking care of all the wedding gifts."
> 
> "Sounds like a lot to do," Jason laments.
> 
> "It _is_ a lot. When you have weddings of your own, you'll realise that even after you're done planning the wedding, actually going through with it is something else. You'll also realise exactly just how many things could go wrong."

Peter gasps as he accepts a wedding gift from Sam and Bucky. It was a stereo system, a model Peter really wanted since its release. It had a Bluetooth connection and the best part? It could read CDs and cassette tapes. It felt like a gift from God to Peter when Sam handed the box to him.

"Thank you so much," Peter says, putting it down on the floor so he can check it off the registry.

Bucky grins, "When you guys released the registry, we just knew this was going to be the best gift on there, so we immediately got it. I hope you enjoy it."

"I know we will," Peter says.

"So, you two are keeping up this not-seeing-each-other-until-the-ceremony thing?" Sam asks when he finds that he can't see Thor around.

"Yeah, he's out with some of the others right now," Peter answers, looking through the registry. "Oh, you already have your hotel room, right?" 

"304," Bucky says, waving the key-card at him. "We're gonna go unpack. We'll see you later for lunch?" 

Peter nods, "Sure. See you later." Sam and Bucky say goodbye as they leave for their hotel room. As soon as they go up one elevator, the second one's doors open.

> "Things don't go the way you want it to. Your father knows that better than anyone."

Peter doesn't look up from the registry, thinking Sam and Bucky came back. He says, "Hey, you guys didn't mark the stereo off the registry after you got it, but --" When he looks up, he freezes up.

"Hello, Peter," Richard says, a faint smile on his face. "What are you doing here?" 

Peter stares at him wordlessly, trying to figure out what to do. The last time he'd seen Richard was four years ago at a music store. The last person he wants to see before his wedding is the ex-boyfriend he almost asked to marry him. 

> "You may think that your only choices are to swallow your anger or to throw it in someone's face, but there's a third option --"

Peter musters up a smile. Albeit fake, a smile nonetheless, and says, "Hey, Richard. I'm here for my wedding."

> "-- You can just let it go. Only when you do that is it really gone, and you can move on."

"Oh," Richard says, looking at the registry and the stereo system. "Who's the lucky person?"

"His name's Thor," Peter answers.

Richard looks surprised, "Valkyrie asked me if I knew him once... And now he's going to marry you. Funny how things turn out."

"Yeah, funny," Peter agrees. "What are you here for?" 

"Oh, my filming site is near here, so I have a room at the hotel," Richard explains. "But don't worry. Today's the last day, so I'm not going to be here from tomorrow onwards."

Peter nods, "Have a good day filming."

"And you have a good wedding," Richard says. "It's nice to see you again." Peter doesn't say anything, only giving him another false smile as Richard leaves the hotel.

> "Your father is strong in many ways. This was just one of the many times he showed it. He never lets people get him down no matter how many times he's been beaten. It's one of the endless number of things I love about him." 
> 
> "Like when he confronted Richard and Quentin?" Jason recalls.
> 
> "_Especially_ then. It takes a special kind of strength to talk to someone who hurt you. It's another kind of strength to tell them that you're never letting them hurt you again."
> 
> "Was that the hardest part of the wedding?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "Kids, when you get married, you'll realise that one of the hardest parts of the wedding is figuring out what your vows are going to be. The morning of the wedding, I found an opening to try to work on my vows."

Loki dodges a paper ball that flies his way and he asks, "You don't have your vows yet?" 

"I kept writing speech after speech, but I couldn't write anything that perfectly showed how much I love him," Thor says, frustrated. "So, I just pulled together the best parts from each draft and hopefully, he can see how much I want to marry him."

"It's going to be fine. You've got this," Loki says. "But, just in case, read it out to me."

"Can I have more than one opinion?" Thor asks.

Loki nods, "Who do you want in the room with us?"

"Tony."

"Tony it is. I'll ask him to come in," Loki says, walking out of the room as Thor goes over his lines. Tony comes into Thor's hotel room with Loki two minutes later, closing the door behind them.

"You asked for me?" Tony asks.

"Can I read you my vows? To see if they're good," Thor asks. Tony nods, sitting down on the bed next to Loki and gesturing for him to start. Thor takes a deep breath and reads out, "Peter, there are not enough words in the world to properly describe how much I love you. I..." He trails off, letting his hand fall to his side.

Loki frowns, "You were doing good. What happened?"

"None of this is right," Thor says. "The words aren't right."

"Hey, hey, calm down," Tony says, noticing Thor getting tenser and tenser by the second. "Sit down. What's wrong, buddy?"

"What if I'm not a good husband?" Thor asks. "What if one day, I mess up? What if he suddenly changes his mind on the altar?"

Tony and Loki exchange worried looks and Loki says, "Thor, he's not going to change his mind. This is going to go _great_."

"You don't know that," Thor insists. "Anything could go wrong."

"Thor, listen to me. When I married Stephen, I thought of running away. I'm going to be very honest with you because you need it," Tony says. "Why did I think of it? Not because I didn't love Stephen. Not because I thought I was marrying the wrong guy. Because I was scared of what could go wrong. But I stayed because I love him and that love defeats every inch of fear I had. What I'm asking is, do you love him?"

"More than anything," Thor answers immediately.

"You pull through for the people you love," Loki says. "Even if you're scared. Do you want to leave or do you want to read us your vows?" 

"Peter, there are not enough words in the world to properly describe how much I love you..."

> "While I read Tony and Loki my vows, your father was having a worse time with his panic than me. By worse, I mean _worse_. Just don't make any judgements until I finish. To remind you, the last time he was ready to marry someone, they cheated on him and sent him into a spiral of self-hate. You have to understand his side of things." 

"I'm asking just because I think this is standard procedure; do you have a speech or are you winging it? You don't look like you have a speech," Rocket says, looking at Peter pacing around his hotel room.

Peter reaches into his pocket again and pulls out a folded sheet of paper. He unfolds it and gives it to Rocket. There's his messy handwriting scrawled over both sides of the paper, from top to bottom. Peter says, "I've been working on it for a while. Last week, I finished the final one. When Thor went to sleep, I was in the kitchen practicing it."

> "While your father thought I was sleeping, I was actually up working on draft after draft of my vows in our bedroom." 

"So, you're going to say all this?" Rocket asks, reading through. "Going to be honest with you... This speech is actually pretty good --" 

"I'm not going to say it." 

"What the -- but you already wrote it," Rocket says, bewildered. 

Peter groans in frustration, taking the script back, "I should have worked on it longer yesterday. None of the words seem right now that I'm reading it back. It's so... it's not showing how much I love him. The words aren't _working_."

"Stop getting in your head, it's going to be fine," Rocket insists. "Listen, Peter. It doesn't... When you're up there saying your vows, it's not going to matter what you say. You spent years waiting for this day. _Four years_. Every time he falls, you're always there to help him back up. He doesn't need words to know that you love him." Peter nods slowly, taking in deep breaths.

"You're right," Peter says, trying to calm down. He looks out the window and freezes.

"You okay?" Rocket asks, raising an eyebrow.

"How difficult do you think it is to climb out the window and go down the drainpipe?" Peter suddenly asks.

Rocket frowns, "Why are you asking me this? I -- _No_. No way, Quill."

Peter turns back to him, clear panic on his face, "I'm not ready to get married."

"Yes, you are. Sit down, we can talk this through," Rocket says, pulling Peter to sit on the bed. "You're just getting the pre-wedding nerves. It's _normal_."

"What if I'm not a good husband?" Peter asks, burying his face in his hands. "Thor's going to end up hating me."

Rocket sighs, running a hand through his hair. He never thought cocky Peter Quill, out of all people, would feel so bad about himself to think about running away from his own wedding. He says, "If it makes you feel better; If Thor didn't think you would be a good husband, he wouldn't have proposed and planned a whole wedding with you. He -- You didn't stay with him for four years to be a runaway groom. Don't tell anyone I said this, but when people look at you two, they see true love. Even I do, and you know love ain't my thing. This... This is just a rough patch."

Peter stares at the ground, wiping stray tears away with his hands, "I just don't want this to end. I love him, Rocket. You know I do. I... I don't want to screw things up eventually and make him hate me." 

"You've got issues, Quill," Rocket says. "And I don't mean that in a rude way... I mean, your mom, your dad, your adoptive dad, Richard, Quentin... I don't blame you for thinking Thor's going to do the same. 

"I don't think Thor's going to abandon me," Peter denies. "I'm just worried that _I'm_ going to screw this thing with him up."

"You're not going to screw it up. If you were, you would already have," Rocket says, sitting down next to him. "Listen, Pete. I've known you for the better half of your life. I know running away is something you've always had a problem with. This is your chance to not run away. If you love him, you gotta work to keep him. And that means showing up when it matters. So, you have two options right now if you really think this is going to go wrong. One, I help you escape through the window, you leave all this behind, and I tell everyone the wedding's off. Two, you stay, get married to Thor and have an amazing life together." 

> "Your father said he would have stayed even if Rocket hadn't given him the long talk. He was looking for someone to just say 'stay' and he would have. I believe he would have, he loved me too much to leave me at the altar, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm always going to be grateful for Rocket for saying all that."

"I..." Peter mumbles. "I'm going to stay." 

Rocket sighs in relief, "Good. So, you want to run those vows by me?" 

"Okay," Peter nods, unfolding the paper again.

> "Your father tells me how sorry he is he ever thought about running away, even for a second, but I understand. We all think it, even if we don't say it out loud or admit it. It happens. Hell, I thought of it too. We're human, we get scared. Your father has abandonment issues from people all over his life. Running away was something your father does sometimes when he's scared someone is going to leave him. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that running away is forgivable if they stay for the most important thing. And he stayed. A couple hours later, it was time for the vows we were panicking over."
> 
> "Who walked down the aisle?" Meredith asks.
> 
> "Well, neither of us had parents who were alive, so we were in a confusion about who would walk down the aisle. So, we sat down during wedding planning and talked about who had someone to walk with us. Loki and Rocket were out since they were going to be waiting on the altar as our best men. I said I could walk with Valkyrie, my best friend. Your father broke down while we tried to think of someone to walk with him."

"I can't do it," Peter says. "You walk." 

"I'm not opposed, but why?" Thor asks. 

"I know I could just walk with one of my closest friends, but I'm going to walk down the aisle thinking about how much I wished it was my mom walking with me," Peter says, tearing up. "I always thought that if I ever got married, my mom would be there with me. And she's not here, I can't breathe..."

Thor pulls Peter to his chest, running a hand through his hair, "Hey, babe. It's... Life just doesn't turn out the way we want it to go most of the time. I know how much your mom meant to you. But, things fall apart for better things sometimes. She's always going to be there for you no matter what."

"I'm going to look out into that audience and she's not going to be in there," Peter weeps.

Thor suggests, "We can... We can leave a seat empty for her. It's stupid, but at least you know she has a seat at your wedding. She can attend in spirit."

"I'd like that," Peter says quietly. "A seat for my mom, and Yondu."

"And one for mine, next to them," Thor says. "I'd really like that."

"Thanks for doing that for me, Thor," Peter says.

"Anything for you, my love," Thor replies, kissing his temple.

Peter finally suggests, "Why don't we both walk? You walk with Val, I can walk with Gamora."

> "And this, kids, is just _another_ example of your father's endless strength. When, a year into our marriage, he told me he almost ran away. When we talked about his mother and him walking down the aisle. It's one kind of strength to confront people who hurt you. It is an extraordinary kind of strength to put your traumas aside for someone. Your father put it away to be there for me at our wedding. That's what matters."
> 
> "So you both walked down the aisle?" Jason asks.
> 
> "We both walked. We left the three seats for my mom, his mom and his adoptive dad. It sounds stupid, but we both agreed that we could see them at the wedding, watching us get married. We were glad we left the seats out for them. Your father went first on the vows."

Peter takes out the folded piece of paper from his suit. Peter says, "I had a speech written. I've been working on it for about two months, trying to find all the right words." For a moment, Rocket thinks that Peter's going to go through with the speech, but then Peter throws the paper aside and says, "But I don't need it. Thor Odinson, I remember the night we met and I can't talk about it without smiling... You played _Mr Blue Sky_ on someone's guitar and I danced. We talked for hours, kissed. We slow-danced to Elvin Bishop. The night started with us saying we didn't believe in a wedding romance, and look where we are now." 

Thor laughs, "At the altar."

Peter smiles, and continues, "At the altar. You say this sometimes, but never had it applied more; Funny how life works out. When we met, all I thought was how hot you were. You still are, but _holy shit_." Everyone laughs and Peter keeps on, "The night went on and I found myself falling for you and I couldn't stop. Love wasn't easy for me, you know that, but you made me love again. Can I just say? Totally worth it. When we moved in together, I realized that you can tolerate all my annoying habits, like humming too loudly. Dancing too much. Pulling the blanket to my side. Cursing a little too often. And I know that you have very few annoying habits. But I guess that's because I love you too much to think anything you do is annoying."

"I could do with you giving me the blanket every once in a while, though," Thor jokes. Peter nudges him lightly with a grin.

"Thor, I had all these great promises written down. I was going to promise you to be a perfect husband, but the world is unpredictable. I can't promise to be perfect. What I _can_ promise is that I will love you with _everything_ I've got," Peter says. "I love you, Thor."

Thor tries to blink past his tears but he fails, grinning as he's asked to say his own vows.

"Peter Quill, I love you," Thor starts. 

"I think that's why you're here," Peter laughs. Thor smiles at the tear that rolls down Peter's cheek as he jokes. 

"Peter, what I admire most about you is your strength," Thor says. "But stamping your foot when you don't get your way is no longer cute after age nine. Seriously, you need to stop that." The audience laughs as Peter pretends to stamp his foot. Thor chuckles and says, "Okay, maybe it's still a _little_ cute. You're so precious for this world."

Thor takes the sight of Peter in -- red cheeks, tears, that smile he fell in love with four years ago at Sam and Bucky's wedding reception. The way one of his sideburns is angled the slightest bit lower than the other. How a strand of his hair curled the wrong direction. Thor's thinking: _I am the luckiest man alive_.

"The vows I wrote are too perfect for the real world," Thor admits. "So, I'm going to make vows I can actually keep. I vow to join you when you're dancing to a good song you hear in a store. I vow to leave your jacket alone."

"You can wear it if you want," Peter says. "You should get to wear it."

> "Why did that mean a lot? Because of how the jacket was given to him by his mother, your father never let anyone wear it. I was the only person he allowed to wear it in his life, until you kids came along and he gave it to you."

"Then I vow to take good care of your jacket," Thor promises. "And I vow to love you with every bit of my heart."

It's time to put the rings on each other. Rocket and Loki walk up to them, rings between their fingers, and hand them over.

"This ring is my promise to love you endlessly," Peter says, sliding the wedding ring onto Thor's finger.

Thor takes the ring from Loki and says, putting it on Peter's finger, "This ring is my promise to love you forever."

"I now pronounce you husbands," the officiant says. "You may kiss the groom."

> "Wait, what about the best man speeches? I want to hear them," Meredith insists.
> 
> "Okay, okay. Loki's speech came first." 

"So, to talk about Peter and Thor..." Loki says. "I was thinking about all the stories Thor had told me about them, trying to find one that perfectly described them. I suggested different memories to others who said the stories were either too weird or too nonsensical. But, miraculously, I found a story. This actually happened just last night. As his best man and brother, I was sharing a hotel room with Thor. Peter and Thor had decided to stay in separate hotel rooms and Thor said he wouldn't see him until the wedding ceremony, at the altar. I caught Thor coming back to our room around 3 AM. I asked him what he was doing, and after some badgering, he finally told me where he'd been. He had been seeing Peter at his room the entire week. They failed in their attempt with being apart, but they succeeded in making each other happy, dancing to Sam Cooke at 3 in the morning. I could tell you a million other stories about them, but all you need to know is that they have had four years together, and they know they have the rest of their lives to spend together, and yet they still can't spend a single day apart. May they never need to again. To Thor and Peter."

> "After Loki was Rocket. He's not one for sappy things like this, so I was surprised that he actually showed up with a speech."

Rocket stands up with a paper in his hand, "Mantis told me I had to find a story of mine about the couple for the best man speech. I asked for help, so Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis sat with me and tried to come up with one I could talk about tonight. Well, we managed to find one. Peter had just come home from his job as a singer at a nightclub. That day, he was pretty beat, late hours and a long setlist. So, when he came home, he wasn't in the mood to do anything. He just wanted to go to bed and sleep until tomorrow came. But as he was about to sleep, he heard Thor crying in the other room because it was the anniversary of the day his mom died. Thor knew Peter had a long night that day and didn't want to tire Peter out further, so he tried his best to be quiet. Peter put off sleeping for two more hours to comfort him. I found them together in the living room, sound asleep. So, I guess the point of this story is that no matter what, they pull through. No matter how tired or upset or scared they are, they really try to make sure the other person is happy. I don't know much about love but I think that's what love's supposed to be. To Peter and Thor."

> "And that, kids, is how I married your father."


End file.
